Steal from a thief
by Ikasul
Summary: Aoko is fed up with that infuriating thief roaming the skies, so she vows to take matters into her own hands to finally bring him down. However, she would never have expected where this oath would lead her and how it would change her life.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

"KID! KID! KID!" , the crowd chanted, cheering for their famous thief in white, longingly waiting for him to make his appearance with the usual catch phrase.

Aoko only groaned and had to prevent herself from slamming her head in the next wall, instead choosing to punch the power button on the remote control to get rid of the obnoxious shouts.

" _What do those people see in that show-off_?" she had to ask herself, standing up from the couch to go to her room, not knowing what she would do there. But everything was better than to see how that thieving jester waltzed through all of her father's security measures as if they were mere child's play, only to emerge from the utter chaos he left behind with the usual jewel in his hand. Oh, how she hated it, hated to see him twist his mouth in that Cheshire grin, holding the gem up to let everybody see how his newest trophy glittered in the moonlight. By now she was sure that this robbing trickster did all this, only to demonstrate to the world how awesome he was.

"Stupid clown!", she groaned out in frustration, "Hopefully he falls on his face and breaks his spine, so he has to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life!" In her irritation, she slammed the door to her room open and flicking on the light, only briefly noticing the lonely darkness that would await her as usual. But the depressing atmosphere merely reminded her of the fact that Kaitou Kid stole her father and Kaito away, making him directly responsible for this miserable state her whole world seemed to be stuck in, fueling her rage even more.

With a sigh she tossed herself on her bed and started to lightly trash her pillow, not wanting to damage it, Kid's presence had already caused enough harm. But when she lay there, her rage gradually fading away, even faster than it used to, she became aware once again of the loneliness and boredom she faced again with every heist kid held. In times long passed, she would play with Kaito and her dad. She didn't really remember what they had done, but it frankly didn't matter if they played cards, watched TV are or supported Kaito with his tricks. Their families had always been close friends, but since the terrible loses they suffered, leaving Aoko with her father and Kaito completely alone at home, she felt like their broken households had merged together, trying to hide the scars of their past. Aoko loved those times, despite the stinging pain her mother's lose has caused, all the laughter and joy she shared with her childhood friend were enough to drive the pain away. Whenever one of them felt the hurt come back, the other would stay strong.

Whenever she fell down, Kaito would come to help her up.

At least that was how it was, but ever since the reappearance of Kaitou Kid they would gradually grow apart, everybody occupied with their own problems and plans. Her dad would have to work overtime in order to keep up with the thieving magician, Kaito was constantly busy with either attending the heists or running some errands for god knows who and Aoko herself is just left alone. She has tried to help either of them, taking part in capturing Kid, or try at least, or wanting to assist Kaito.

But both of them couldn't use her help.

For her father, her presence was only another random factor and it wasn't like she could capture kid by herself. Kaito, on the other hand, would vanish when it mattered, either be it at the heists or the errand he had to make, leaving her behind to wait for him.

"I would probably only screw over their plans, that's why it didn't work." Aoko muttered to herself, knowing fully well that both of them would immediately promise her this wasn't the case. But Aoko wasn't stupid or at least not that stupid. What had she even to offer? She was clumsy, easily got lost, had the stamina to chase after the thief but neither the speed nor the wits to catch up to him. Whatever she would do, she would only be a hindrance to them.

" _Well, at least I'm not the only useless one_.", she though bitterly, recalling the fact that nobody she knew got even close enough to kid to catch him.

How is it possible that he is always prepared for every trick her father and his task force came up with? Even the old Suzuki's money and influence where not enough to chain the thief, they merely served to further demonstrate his skills.

Her train of thoughts was rudely interrupted when her phone chimed up, letting her know that she got a knew mail. "Must be scam again.", Aoko groaned, picking her phone up to confirm her suspicion.

But when she noticed the title of the message her interest was immediately caught and she sat up on her bed, reading carefully through the answer she got on a fan forum. No, obviously it was no Kaitou Kid forum, quite the opposite in fact. "Hi Aokamori", the mail started, reminding her once again that she had to come up with better nicknames, "Sadly I don't exactly know why the Kid Killer hasn't shown up on most recent heist, but it's likely that he has simply other things to do. After all, he is still a grade schooler and I don't think any sane parent would like to see his child chase after a thief, as successful as he may be. Besides, maybe Kid managed to win him over. You know how charming he can be, so it wouldn't be unusual for a child to fall for his mask."

At this point Aoko turned off the screen with a huff. She wanted to know why the Kid-killer Conan Edogawa didn't come to the heists anymore, but as plausible as these theories were, she refused to believe that her idol would fall for the thief's cheap tricks. After all, he was the only one to ever stop the magician and even managed to corner the phantom once or twice.

"He should be the hero!", Aoko proclaimed to the emptiness of her room, "For a kid to succeed where even the police failed. He should get a job offered as junior inspector in the force and maybe then Kid would finally be caught."

But her bold idea started to crumble when she recalled the absence of the boy at the heists. He attended one every once in a while, always managing to figure out the thief's tricks, but for some reason he has stopped coming and Aoko, curious as she was, couldn't help but wonder why.

However, as curious as she may was, she still knew that it wasn't her business why the young sleuth had stopped fighting the ivory-colored trickster and after all, it wasn't exactly common for a child to fight crime and as good as he may be at doing so, she doubted that any competent guardian would simply let the boy wander of to play hero. He was still a child after all, a brilliant one, but a child nonetheless and she didn't want to be the person to drag a child back into battle only to execute her selfish revenge.

" _No. If I want to bring Kid down, I'll have to do it myself._ ", she decided, not caring for the apparent impossibility of her task, " _He is human after all and even the most perfect magician can screw up his tricks._ "

But despite this, Aoko has never seen the thief in a moment of weakness, not even surprise was something she had glimpsed once on his face. Everything was hidden behind layers and layers of costume and masks, showing only his success but not letting his failure radiate through. She knew that much about magician from Kaito. Whenever he would botch a trick, nobody would notice. Only after the performance, when they sat together on the stairs to the stage, he would confess his failure to her and she would always have to cheer him up.

Aoko smiled softly at those fond memories and sneaking a look through her window over at his dark bedroom, she only now became aware that all her thinking and ranting has taken up the rest of the evening. The clock on her bedside table showed 23:27, what made her rush to the bathroom to brush her teeth quickly in order to save as much of her precious time to sleep as possible.

She couldn't allow herself to doze off in class after all, because of her grades and because she didn't want Kaito to see her like that. God knows what he might do to tease her.

Stifling a yawn, Aoko walked towards the glass case, sheltering the "Flaming Emperor", the largest Ruby ever found. She had to swallow when she remembered the price of the stone, making her painfully aware of how rich some people where to actually even think of such a price. " _You could feed the whole population of Tokyo for at least a day with this much money._ ", she realized, after estimating the rough costs for this silly project.

"So, with what strange idea did you come up this time?" a voice suddenly asked behind her and before Aoko even started to turn around, her brain had already recognized the faint hint of mockery it contained.

"Don't act like you can read my thoughts!", Aoko huffed back an answer, "What do you mean anyway?" The boy behind her only showed a brilliant grin, taking his time to answer, "What did you want to pay with the jewel Kid will steal this time?", the question finally came, along with that childish sparkling in Kaito's eyes. If Aoko had to choose what was the most magical thing about him, this little glint would definitely be her pick, always managing to make her blush a little, obviously not because she liked him or anything silly like that, it just reminded her of that wonderful friend she had. "I bet you wanted to buy more of those cute bear panties you're wearing right now, Aoko."

"Ok, screw everything about wonderful friend" Aoko decided in her head and proceeded to punch him in the guts, a action he swiftly dodged only to bop her on the head with a rolled newspaper he had with him for some reason.

"Oiii, come on Aoko, at least don't let my marvelous smile distract you when you try to hit me. It's no fun that way.", the magician pouted only making Aoko's blood boil even more, again drawing the genes of her father out.

"KAITO!", she roared and grabbed a mop, leaning against a pillar, probably left there by the cleaning personal when they had to leave earlier because of the upcoming heist. When Kaito took off, it didn't even take half a second for Aoko to storm after him, swinging her makeshift weapon like a mad berserk at the escaping magician.

"Please Aoko, don't be that upset about the bears, you know they suit you.", Kaito teased, knowing fully well how much this comment would tick Aoko off.  
"KAIIITOOOOO!", was all that he got as an answer, which was exactly what he desired, not only fueling her rage but also sparking a beautiful flush on her cheeks. Only when Aoko nearly bludgeoned a member of the task force, they realized how inappropriate of a place the museum was for their usual chase and Aoko blamed it on Kaito's unnatural luck that nothing was broken during their performance.

"Wow, you really are absent minded today" Kaito observed after they had settled at a place in a corner to rest and not further disturb the preparations.  
"Has something happened that I should know or are you starting to reconsider your choice of underwear?" Normally Aoko would have answered with either a flush on her cheeks or a mop to the face, but today she did neither of those and only looked concentrated at the wall. Assuming Aoko had found something Kaito followed her gaze, searching the lower part of the wall for anything eye-catching, not finding anything to his great displeasure. Only when Aoko started to speak, he realized that there was indeed nothing of interest and his friend had only starred holes into the air, coincidentally looking at that specific piece of wall. "I was wondering whether Kid liked to have a rival." Aoko questioned, immediately gaining all of Kaito's attention, "A rival?", he asked back.

"Yes, I mean normally you wouldn't like to take any risks when thieving, but since we talk about that infuriating show-off her, I think he is bored if neither Hakuba-kun nor Conan Edogawa are here." Aoko fancied, catching Kaito off guard, because he never believed she would be able to have even vaguely neutral thoughts for his thieving alter ego.  
"Conan Edogawa?", was what he finally answered and despite the fact that Kid certainly would know the name of the small detective, he saw no reason why Kuroba Kaito should know.  
"Oh, come on, you know the Kid Killer.", Aoko scolded, feeling mildly offended that her best friend, who was such a Kid-fan, didn't seem to know his biggest rival, depending on how you look at this, he was his smallest too.  
"Ohhh, the bespectacled brat", Kaito faked a look of realization and despite the general respect he had for the shrunken teen, he played the "I-don't-like-him-because-he-wants-to-catch-Kid-sama" card a lot of his fans loved to use.  
"Brat?! Why do you think he is a brat?" Aoko snarled at first, but suddenly her mind jumped to a rather rash conclusion, "DO YOU KNOW HIM?"

Kaito stumbled backwards so they wouldn't stand that close to one another, but found himself pressed against a pillar, an Aoko with beaming eyes advancing towards him and for some reason it ticked him off that she could look so brilliant because of somebody else than himself.  
"Not really, but just look at how arrogant he smirks. That grin gives me the creeps." Kaito ejaculated, only noticing to late that he might have said to much.  
"You stood close enough to see him SMIRK?!" Aoko immediately pressed, ready to wring every little information she could out off Kaito. Even though she has read a lot about her small hero and despite all the newspaper articles she stored in a folder, she never got the chance to see him in person. To think that Kaito, who apparently couldn't appreciate the little boy's presence one bit, had the luck to see him grinning, was an insult to Aoko's own luck.  
"Where? When? How? ", all those questions bubbled out of her, pinning Kaito to the pillar and not letting him leave. "I don't know anymore!", he finally managed to interrupt Aoko's constant stream of words, "Why should I even bother remembering something like this?" When Aoko flinched away from him, he realized that his voice had a lot more edge to it than he intended, making it seem like he snapped at her. "I… just wanted…to… You know… I…", Aoko tried to answer but she was unable to voice her question, fearing it would upset him even more.

Kaito sighed, he had known Aoko long enough to know how important this was to her, but also knew how much she hated to hurt people she cared for.  
"I don't remember exactly, but it was in the winter, near to Beika.", he spoke softly, trying to assure Aoko that he was not mad at her.  
"Beika?", the answer of her was faint, barely hearable over the shouts coming from the task force.  
"You know, the district in which he lives.", Kaito explained, nearly falling on his back, only saved by the pillar that still stood behind him, when Aoko head snapped forward, nearly knocking into his, "YOU KNOW WHERE HE LIVES?!"

Aoko couldn't believe it. The way Kaito has mentioned Conan's address, like it was the most obvious fact about him, made her seriously doubt her own competence as a dedicated fan and for the rest of the evening her mind was occupied. She failed to notice when Kaito vanished, didn't pay any attention when Kaito Kid let the ruby hover straight into his palm and even the famous grin he always flashed before he made his escape wasn't seen by her.

* * *

Aoko's nervously shifted from one foot to the other, gaze dancing between the stairs and the huge sign which read 'Detective Agency Mori'. For everybody around her she would seem like a total creep, walking up and down in front of the house for more than 15 minutes and if they knew she waited for a grade schooler who didn't even know her, that would have undoubtedly been the cause for a serious call to the police. Luckily nobody seemed to take further notice of her and even if they did look at her, they either didn't catch up on her odd behavior or brushed it off as something normal.

But because of Aoko's frantic overthinking, she failed to notice the pair of watchful sky-blue eyes that steadily observed her with the experience of countless previous hours of surveillance. They were shielded by a pair of over-sized glasses and belonged to a little boy who watched her, leaning on the window-sill with his right elbow and resting his head in his palm. He stood on a chair to gain the needed height and has stood like this, since he spotted the oddly familiar looking girl on the street, keeping her constantly in his line of sight and observing her movement with a neutral face.

O

" _She is definitely thinking about entering the building, but from the way she checked the nameplate over and over, one can see her insecurity. It's likely that she did come her because somebody told her about this place, that's why she wants to make sure she hasn't gotten the wrong address, but while she is definitely nervous, it doesn't seem like she is particularly stressed. That means either her problem isn't that big off a deal, that would also explain why she hesitates so much, or she isn't here because she needs a detective, but wants to meet somebody else, judging from her age I would think she wants to see Ran._ " Conan deduced after studying the new visitor for a few minutes.

Jumping off the chair, he made his way over to the couch, where Ran was currently seated, watching the news. On the way, his mind started to theorize why the girl was here, " _Judging from her slim and undeveloped posture, she is probably a year or two younger than Ran and judging from the fact that she apparently wasn't here before and Ran doesn't seem to expect anybody, it's safe to assume that she has some kind of business with one of them. But then again, the lack of tension and her rather slow way of moving suggest that she isn't in a rush, so the matter can't be that important. I would assume she's one of Ran's fans, who came her either to ask something off her, maybe private lessons in karate or a school subject, or she wants to show her admiration for Ran._ "

By the time he reached the couch, he had decided on the "Kohai admirer theory", so he saw no reason to not tell Ran and so he declared with his usual piping voice: "Ran-neechan. I think you have a visitor."  
The girl who lazily watched the TV screen pressed the mute button on the remote and turned her head to look at the small boy. "A visitor? I didn't expect anybody. Are you sure they want to see me?", she asked him, a puzzled look in her eyes.  
"She doesn't look like a client and I don't know her.", Conan shrugged, presenting his deduction in a childlike and believable manner.  
"Are you sure about that? Maybe she is a fan of yours.", Ran asked, chuckling lightly over Conan's scowl.  
"Why should I have any fans, Ran-neechan? I haven't done anything noteworthy.", he interjected and Ran only answered with a shrug before she stood up and walked down the stairs, Conan following shortly after her.

O

"Excuse me?", Aoko nearly jumped at the voice, immediately whirling around, only to find herself staring at a mirror image of herself, or so it seemed at first, but when the eyes of the image went wide, while hers already threatened to fall out of her head, she noted that it was indeed another person.  
A few seconds of silent staring passed, before Aoko remembered her odd situation, "I wasn't stalking anybody, I was just waiting for somebody, but I wasn't quite sure when he would arrive, so I grew worried and started to look around for. . ."  
At this point she had to interrupt to catch her breath and the other girl quickly took the chance, "Yes I thought you were waiting for my father because you have a case for him."  
Aoko's eyes widened again and she squawked, "Case?! What case!? I haven't done anything."  
Ran was now a little worried over how confused the girl actually was, so she tried to calm her down, "Yes, you haven't done anything, so no reason to blow a fuse. Do you want to come in and have a tea to relax?"  
Aoko, utterly dumbfound at that point, didn't manage to answer properly so she only nodded her head and trudged after Ran up the stairs, still not noticing the small boy that now walked behind her, a hint of puzzlement on his face.

Taking a sip from the cup of tea, she got from Ran after the few minutes it took to be prepared, Aoko managed to calm her nerves and putting her cup down she wanted to explain herself.  
"My father isn't here at the moment, but I would be more than happy to listen to your case.", Ran spoke at the moment as Aoko opened her mouth to say something, so she closed it again out of politeness to not disturb a person.  
 _"Her father?_ " Aoko wondered before realization suddenly hit her, _"Oh right, the sleeping Kogoro! So, she thinks I am a client!"  
_ Cleaning her throat with a cough, Aoko finally started to clear this whole mess, "I'm not here because of your father, ehh… Mouri-san?" she asked hesitantly, ruining the somewhat serious atmosphere again.  
"Ran is fine.", the other girl assured her, gesturing for her to continue her explanation and Aoko was about to do so when another voice suddenly pipped up, "You're here because off me, right?"  
Turning her head, Aoko finally noticed the person she had waited for in the last quarter of an hour, sitting right beside her on the coach and smiling up at her in the most adorable manner. With her mind torn between how the legendary Kid Killer could look so cute and the fact that he had been here since the beginning, Aoko only googled at the small boy, her jaw hanging wide open.

O

"Do you know her, Conan-kun?", Ran asked, visibly confused by the current situation, undoubtedly because she remembered how Conan didn't seem to recognize their guest earlier.  
"No, but if she isn't here for Ojisan and doesn't know your name, I am the only person that is left." The little sleuth proclaimed, flashing a grin filled with childish pride, but behind the mask called Conan, he still brooded over why this girl was here, "Either that or she is your long-lost twin sister.", he added, with an even wider grin on his face.  
The effectiveness of the words was immediately proven when both girls snapped their eyes back at each other to observe their resemblance again.  
"Do we really look that much alike?", Ran was the first to ask after she mulled over the matter for some seconds, a slight frown on her face, "Granted I can see some resemblance, but twin sisters?! I don't think so."  
Aoko however needed a few seconds before her brain had processed the information, "What? Twins?! We? No way!" she finally blurted, a flush creeping up her cheeks, further supporting Ran's statement.  
"But you really do look alike! I bet not even Sonoko could tell the difference." Conan whined, finding unexpected joy in teasing the two girls, even though he only had wanted to lighten the mood, recognizing that it would help the Ran-lookalike to relax.

O

Aoko looked at him with raised eyebrows, while Ran slowly shook her head, addressing the other girl once again, "I'm sorry, he can be quite daring sometimes.", bowing slightly to further demonstrate her apology.  
"Ah no problem, children are like that, even though I didn't expect him to be like that" Aoko vigorously waved her hands around, feeling very uneasy with the whole situation, so she was glad when Ran's questioning glance finally gave her the opportunity to explain why she had come here.

"My name is Aoko Nakamori and I'm the daughter of Inspector Nakamori." Aoko introduced herself, promptly getting interrupted by Conan again: "Ah you mean the always cursing inspector that chases Kaitou Kid?"  
The rash comment was immediately answered with a scold from Ran, telling the little boy not to be rude, but Aoko really wanted to finally tell her story, so she tried to smoothen things out: "Well he is right, my father should really watch his mouth more, especially when he is at a heist. In fact, I am here because of one, or rather the person who causes them: Kaitou Kid. You see, I really want to make him pay for everything he has done to my dad, that's why I am here."  
The puzzled look in Conan's and Ran's eyes, was the only reaction Aoko got till Ran finally spoke up: "Well your goal is very understandable, but I don't quite see how we could help you.", her words discouraged Aoko even further, but she decided that it was too late to back down.  
"Well, as you know Conan-kun is the famous Kid-Killer, so I wanted to ask for some advice from him, he has put up the best fight against Kid after all.", she then finally explained, determined to get at least some help from her idol.  
"Beating Kid!?" Conan suddenly yelled and started to jump up and down on the coach, " I want to help you! Please let me help you? Please?" he started to pledge, knowing fully well how unworthy of the great Detective of the East this behaviour was, but since the incidence where the whole museum for the legendary sunflowers was blown up, Ran had prohibited him from attending any more heist and wasn't exactly pleased when Conan snuck out to go with Hakase. Maybe he shouldn't have explained Kid's trick to the TV crew that evening. But right now, all that mattered was to convince Ran of letting him go again, so he put on his best puppy face and stared up at his guardian, continuously pleading for her approval.

At first she only huffed in disagreement, turning her head away and crossing her arms in front of her chest: "No, Conan-kun, you know how dangerous it can be." she replied harshly, but Conan didn't stop his begging.  
"But Ran-neechan, Kid has a no harm policy, besides something like this only happened once." he started to argue, however, Ran was not about to back down that easily.  
"No, do I have to remind you that you nearly died?!" she asked with a stern face, but Conan stood up firmly against her arguments.  
"More people die from car accidents than from terrorist attacks!", he tried to reason, only earning him a raised eyebrow from Ran.

They argued for several minutes, till Ran finally couldn't take it anymore, "FINE! Fine! We can go again, BUT if you do something dangerous again, I will ground you for every future heist, do you understand?"  
But her last words didn't seem to reach the boy when he bounced at her, hugging her tightly, yelling thank you after thank you and Ran couldn't help but smile over the small bundle of energy. She knew perfectly well how much this meant to him and, truth be told, his most brilliant moments were in face of the biggest danger or Kaitou Kid and it that case she preferred the later. Still, she was worried over what might happen, so she vowed to protect her small brother with her life, if necessary.

During the whole argument Aoko was left to goggle at the two, feeling awfully out of place but strangely responsible for the whole situation at the same time.

* * *

Carrying a wide grin on his face, Conan had difficulties to calm down, when he finally got to see the target of Kid: a humongous emerald. Enclosed in gold, formed to resemble the head of a lion, his mouth caged the pricey jewel, trapping it behind four fangs carved from ivory, the mighty cat would stare with glowing red eyes, made of two rubies, at everyone who dared to look at its prey. Currently the brooch was placed on a dark green silk cushion behind a think case of armoured glass, further secured with an iron cage, which was sealed with two locks, one using a key currently in the possession of Inspector Nakamori, the other making use of newest technology, with eye and fingerprint scanner, only opening for the owner off the jewel.

Conan gave a soft whistle after he inspected the stand on which the whole contraption was seated from afar, because even though he was the Kid-Killer and currently a companion of Aoko Nakamori as well, the owner was too anxious to let anybody go near the cage, safe for himself and Inspector Nakamori, who he would always pinch and got pinched back before either of the two approached the jewel case. The whole room was filled with security cameras on top of that, while the task force patrolled the museum.  
" _This one won't be easy, even for Kid._ ", Conan conclude after eyeing the whole room, already falling out of his child mask and into his detective. Luckily, whenever he faced the thief, he wouldn't fool and so Aoko will likely not pay much mind to his behaviour and Ran seemed to have accepted his strange mood swings a long time ago.  
"Where will he strike from?", Aoko suddenly asked him, squatting down a little to hear the voice of her new tutor more clearly, what made Ran do the same, both having an awful serious expression on their faces.  
" _I thought Ran didn't want me to come._ ", Conan thought, grinning inwardly over this small victory but quickly snapping his mind back to the task at hand, searching for holes in the defense system.  
"It would be quite complicated for Kid to impersonate two people, even when he does have an assistant, so he will either steal the key from Inspector Nakamori or try to avoid breaking the locks. In case of the first possibility, we merely have to make sure no one comes to close to the jewel and that nobody steals the keys. However, if he intends to steal the jewel along with the glass case it would increase his options drastically, but he will need a lot of force to do that, so he will have to bring a tool of some sort which can rip the cage from the ground. It also would be possible to trick us into thinking the jewel has been stolen, so we open the cage and then he steals the gem, but in that case, we just have to be careful and not act rashly.", Conan finished his explanation.

When he looked up at his two companions, he was greeted with two sets of blue eyes, the one pair more azure tainted than the other, who both starred down at him.  
"Amazing", Aoko was the first of the two to speak up, completely taken aback by the little boy's words, and Conan became aware that he might has said a little too much. Granted, Aoko had always thought he was smart, but for him to have deduced that much in only a few minutes and from that distance, it was simply unbelievable.

O

Ran thought much the same, thinking once again that Conan really needed these sorts of things. Honestly, why was it that every male friend she had was draw to danger and death, was there some kind of curse of her or did the gods think it funny? She had no clue and frankly, she didn't think it would do her any good to know those things, so she shoved those thoughts aside, back to where all her stupid little theories and unanswered feelings slumbered, to concentrate once more on the heist. Looking at her watch, she quickly realized that Kid should arrive within the next minute and when she showed her watch to Conan, the Kid-Killer quickly ran off, making his way over to the police tape, which separate the chanting crowd from the jewel's case. Ran and Aoko followed him, pushing through the crowd, where Conan slipped through between their feet and when they finally reached the makeshift barrier, they had barely time to catch their breath till the clocked chimed and announced the thief's arrival.

O

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN", the infamous voiced boomed and was answered with a flood of chants and screams from the crowed, forcing Conan to cover his ears to not go deaf. Then with a cloud of white smoke, the phantom thief appeared, standing in mid-air, looking down at the gathered people, a playfully smile on his face.  
"For tonight's show, I have thought of a special trick to celebrate Inspector Nakamori's 41th defeat since my return. Do not be confused by me choosing such a peculiar number, but since he soon will carry more loses than years, it seemed like a memorable moment to me!", the thief announced, voice still booming through the hall, undoubtedly enhanced by hidden speakers, as Conan knew, but even that knowledge didn't do much to lessen the effect of his Grande Entrance. "KIIIDDD!" Nakamori's yell echoed through the room low and growling, but seeing the grown man jump up and down right under where Kid hovered, or rather hung from the ceiling by two nearly invisible wires, ruined the effect his intimidating voice had left completely.

"Well Inspector Nakamori!" Kid exclaimed, obviously faking the delightfully surprised tone of his voice, "What a joy to meet you in a place such as this. What brings you here tonight?" Looking down at the police inspector with his usual smirk, Nakamori's head started to turn from the usual crimson red to a purple as his anger grew even more than usual. But before he could bellow a return, Kid had already started to speak once again,  
"But of course, how stupid of me, you must have come here to see my show! Indeed, what else could lure a man of delicate taste such as you out to this generic place, if not my own small performance. Oh, your presence is truly the most invaluable present you could have made me. I can't even imagine what exquisite venture you had fancied for tonight but postponed only to attend my little show."  
With every word Kid spoke his gestures grew more effusively and Nakamori's head grew a shade darker as well. "If I just have to think of the delicate Ramen or even the heavenly meal of your angelic daughter you neglected for my sake. I can not else but see how good of a rival you truly are, my dear Inspector." Kid chimed, wiping away a non existing tear and with that Nakamori's fuss blew.

O

When his clenched teeth finally opened, to give way to a flood of curses, one more innovative than the other and only Ran's quick hands over Conan's ears sparred him from the questionable words. Now not even trying to hold himself back, Nakamori grabbed a ladder, which the cleaning personal usually used and climbed it up as fast as a squirrel, balancing on the highest step, waving his arms around in the air, to get a hold of the elusive thief's shoes. But despite the extra height the ladder provided, it was still not enough, and Conan feared Nakamori would soon pull out his gun, when the thief finally took the offense.

Taking advantage of the impractical position Nakamori was in, Kid suddenly dropped down, attaching something on Nakamori's collar in the process and before the inspector had time to process the situation, he was lifted into the air. With that, Nakamori and Kid had swapped location, leaving the police inspector hanging from the ceiling,unable to do anything, while Kid stood directly in front of his target.  
"DON'T STAND AROUND LIKE STATUES, GET HIM!", Nakamori's scream bellowed through the room, reminding the task force of their job and they immediately charged at Kid, who only stood there, smirking at them. Only bare milliseconds before they collided with him, Kid jumped out of their way, so the crashed with full force into the jewel's case. The heavy shock broke the glass, however the iron bars didn't budge, still protecting the emerald from Kid's greedy grasp.

Seemingly out of desperation, Kid squeezed his hand through the bars, but instead of grabbing the stone, he brought his hand forcefully down on the podium, which to everybodies surprise broke into pieces, letting the jewel together with its silk cushion fall down into the black abyss. In that moment, Conan understood what the thief had planned for this heist and he rushed off, noticing how the thief did the same. Recalling the map of the building Conan had memorized, he quickly concluded that the phantom thief had made a hole into the ceiling of the large storage room, which used up the whole basement.

Realizing that the doors would most likely be locked, Conan adjusted his route to enter through the same door Kid used and luckily the thief didn't choose to seal the door again, after he picked its lock. Charging at full speed ahead, Conan had to round a few corners, taking shortcut's over and under the piles of wooden boxes, storing other pieces of art, before he finally saw the thief. Slithering to a hold, he could just see the magician climbing a ladder, probably to retrieve the emerald from a safety net he placed in the shaft, which he dug to reach the bottom of the rostrum.  
"Well, well, well. I must say you never fail to meet my expectations Tantei-kun" Kid declared, stopping his ascend and stepping back down on the floor.  
"I must admit, that I'm a little disappointed to find all of the efforts put into this plan be a waste, but considering they were finally enough to drag you back to my heists, I would say it wasn't a complete failure." Apparently, Kid has missed his small rival just as much as Conan missed to chase after the thief's white cape, but how could he not like it. In its core, Kid's heists were like a crime scene where a very intriguing murder had happened, but with the added benefit of not encountering any sort of violence or death. Even the reckless attacks of the task force didn't cause any greater harm to anybody, aside from a few dents and bruises. In fact, Conan was really glad, to finally come back to a heist, once again feeling the thrill of chasing the master of tricks and magic. However, as much as he enjoyed the heists, this didn't mean he would hold back when it comes to catching the thief.  
"It's good to hear that you missed me, Kid. Hopefully you won't regret it at the end of the day" Conan answered, a smile of thrill and anticipation on his face. "My, my, a child like you shouldn't make any threats, it seems I ought to have a word with your guardian." Kid only sighed as an answer, while grinning back at the small sleuth, not with his usual stage grin, but with the widest Cheshire smile Conan has ever seen.  
"If you have a problem with my methods of raising children, I would appreciate it if you would tell me directly, instead of whispering behind my back.", a voice suddenly echoed through the vault, causing both males to look in the direction from which it both had to do a double take upon seeing the two nearly identical girls standing in front of them, both frowning at the thief, obvious anger written over their faces.

O

Even though they were mad at the thief for two completely different reasons and despite the fact that Kaitou Kid knew who both of them were, he felt like two Aoko's were glaring at him, a thought that scared him just a tiny little bit.  
"Kaitou Kid", the girl which resembled Aoko more closely started, "This time you will lose. You cannot win against all three of us!", her voiced was tainted with anger, fueled by the countless defeats, 40 to be precise, which her father had suffered against the thief, bringing his position as inspector countless times in danger. As always, the guilt pierced Kaito's heart, but he could not allow himself to give in to the urge of explaining himself. He could not allow Aoko to know who he was or even why he did what he did. It would only put her in danger and the same was true for the other two people that were down here with him and even though he didn't really know neither Conan Edogawa nor Ran Mouri, solely the fact that they were ready to face a thief to protect something that didn't even belong to them made them worthy of protection.

Executing this whole thought process and finishing it with a renovation of his vow to not let anybody get hurt, took barely a few seconds, so it could be taken as a pause to create a dramatic effect in his speech, but if he remained silent for much longer it would start to get suspicious.  
"It is really heart-warming to know how much the daughter of my lifelong rival hates my work. This gives me the hope to see a familiar face at my heist, even when Inspector Nakamori is no longer able to attend to his duties as a police official.", he purred out, using a honey-sweet voice. But despite his obvious provocation, Aoko remained remarkably calm. In fact, it seemed as if she didn't even hear what he had said, if not for the little twitch of her eye Kaito would have seriously considered that possibility, and continued to observe the room in which the four teens, one shrunken and one masked, stood. Kaito would have loved to further chat with his friendly pursuers, friendly in comparison to his other kind of pursuers, but hearing the footsteps of the task force coming down the stairs, he knew his time was over. Bowing nobly, he quickly dropped a smock bomb, clouding the room in a black mist to maximize its blinding effect. Then, as quickly as a squirrel high on coffee, he dashed up the ladder, snatched the emerald from the blanked he used to catch it in its fall and charged straight at the two girls and the child, who desperately tried to see anything in the darkness.

While they were still rendered blind, Kaito executed a marvelous flip over their heads, only slightly touching a few strains of Ran's hair, and thanks to the special googles he brought along, he could make out the exit instantly. Running as silent as possible, he doubted anybody could hear his steps over the noise the task force made, as they now charged down the stairs, which were covered in the black smoke too by now. It would seem like a bad situation for him, getting sandwiched between the police force and a karate practitioner however, he had an ace up his sleeves. Before he rounded the corner to the stairs, which were already attacked by the countless stomps of the police officer, he jumped as high as he could and squeezed himself in between two huge pipes, probably for water or gas transport.

Practically glued to the ceiling, he could only be seen if somebody looked up while rushing around the corner, an action so unlikely that it would require more misfortune on his side, than all the luck he had till now. Just as he had planed, the police force charged down the hall, all the while looking for suspicious strings and buttons on the ground, indicating the thief's famous traps. After the last of them charged past him, Kaito softly jumped to the ground, careful not to make any noises, and then strolled up the stairs in full confidence that nobody would be left in the ground area of the building and that the task force would effectively block the little sleuth and his two female assistants off. Grinning to himself, obviously pleased with how his plan had worked out, he proceeded to go up the stairs to the roof at a faster pace, knowing that it wouldn't take too long for the detective to figure out his trick and intentions.

O

While Ran was confused and Aoko was fuming, Conan couldn't help but give the thief a little credit for the trick. It wasn't only perfectly executed, but the planning that must have went into the trick was astounding, because he didn't only predict the police's movements but that of Conan too. However, despite the respect he felt for the thief's abilities, he was still a detective, a damn good one at that, and he didn't exactly like to lose, so, after his brain provided the most likely escape path of the magician, he stormed straight to the stairs, trying to take three steps at a time but his body limited him to two. Usually Ran wouldn't have noticed the quick departure of her little brother, but after Kid's trick, she was a lot more alarmed than usual and so she was quick to follow him, Aoko hot on her heels too. The two girls managed to catch up with Conan on the 5th of 9 floors and noticing the heavy panting from Conan, Ran quickly scooped him up without interrupting her mad dash up the stairs, earning her a small yelp followed by a little bit of wiggling from Conan's part.

But he quickly recognized how much more efficient that method was and so he swallowed his pride and remained silent and calm for the rest of the stairs. When they finally reached the top floor, the door was not closed and so they rushed straight onto an empty platform, which was the ceiling of the large building. Quickly scanning their surroundings, their eyes focused on the greenish glint of the emerald, which Kid was once again holding to the sky, letting the moonlight shine through the unique jewel. The emerald seemed like he was glowing turquoise under the rays from the celestial body, but in spite of the astounding sight, Kid slumped shoulders indicate a disappointment to them, something neither of the three could make sense off. But before they could potentially ask or pry, Kid swirled around, making the gem vanish in the process, and faced them again. With the moon in his back however, his features were clad in darkness, rendering every attempt to see his face useless and so they couldn't even see the brilliant smile he only produced for his most dedicated critics.  
"Isn't it a lovely night today?" the snobbish and chortling voice of the figure in white asked, "One could easily lose himself in the beauty of such a sight, were it not for the basic human trait of ignorance to everything that isn't to our immediate desire." Irritated by the philosophical statement, Ran, Aoko and Conan found no words for a few seconds, till Conan, who was the most accustomed to Kid's mood swings, spoke up.  
"The sight would be even more pleasant, if I were the one holding the gem.", he stated, holding his hand out in a demanding gesture.

O

Kaito couldn't help but smirk at the answer he received. Granted, it was not what he expected, but maybe the little detective didn't want to show his full colors in front of the two girls. He was just about to toss the jewel over to the kid, when he spotted a faint glimmer on a building opposite of him, which caused his hand to freeze mid-air.

" _SHIT!"_ , Kaito thought, " _they are here_." Suddenly he realized that he dropped his poker face and stared with horror clearly drawn on his face over at the slightly taller building, an action that clearly showed he noticed the sniper. In an instant his instincts kicked in and he rushed forward, letting the bullet only hit his fluttering cape.

He dashed straight at the three teens, who were equally shocked and confused by the sudden action, in front of him, and despite their attempts to prevent it, he somehow managed to grab all three of them and shoved them back inside the building.  
"Listen you three,", he started, his mind completely clear and focused, "I appreciate your attention but now it's getting dangerous. Put aside all your plans for revenge and GET OUT OFF HERE!"He screamed the last part, earning him only wide-eyed stares, but at least the small detective understood, because he nodded back at the thief, determination in his eyes.

O

Conan had known that Kid had some unwanted guests following his tail, but he didn't think they would be bold and/or stupid enough to go and shoot at him during a heist. But the bullet that flew over their head was sound proof for their presence and so they were in danger too.  
" _I have to bring the girls back to the police. Kid should know how to escape those guys and they should chase after him, but we still have to hurry_.", his mind concluded, running on usual overdrive whenever the situation required.  
"Ran-neechan, Aoko-neechan follow me!", he commanded the two older-looking girls, while his brain had already found the fastest and safest way down to the ground. He grabbed the two slightly hesitant girls' hands and dragged them to the stairs, looking back one last time, only seeing the swaying door. No kid in sight, so he must had already started his diversion. Ushering the girls down the stairs, he looked back one last time and wished the gentlemen thief good luck, before he followed them downwards.

* * *

 _All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment._

 _Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part._

 _Hope you liked the chapter and till next time._

 _Farewell_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Whirling quickly around, Kaito managed to dodge yet another bullet, which hit the roof and bounced off, vanishing in the dark of the night. He knew that he had roughly two to three seconds before the sniper had reloaded, taken aim and shot again, so he used the time and dashed straight at the edge of the building, launching himself over it in one smooth motion. Knowing that it would be next to impossible for the sniper to hit him mid fall, Kaito continued his drop for a few seconds, before he used his glider to turn the fall into a fast flight.

As soon as possible he took a swift and sharp turn to the right which would bring him to the east side of the museum, where an open window would wait for him, at least if nobody spotted it since he opened it. To his luck, he could quickly pinpoint its location and steer his glider straight at it. However, he didn't intend to enter through the window at an angle or with his glider, two facts which made his landing a lot more dangerous than it should have been. But Kaito wouldn't be Kaitou Kid, when he wasn't ready to take such risk at a daily basis and so he didn't waver one bit in his flight. A fatal mistake as it will turn out, but Kaito only noticed when the bullet had already hit him.

If it was due to the wind or a miscalculation from the sniper Kaito didn't know, but the bullet only hit his leg. Still the pain and shock surprised him enough, so he lost some of the control over the glider. So instead of folding the glider in before he passed the window, the glider's wings crashed into the window frame, a fight which the sturdy metal of the window frame won. Thanks to his reflexes, Kaito managed to absorb most of the impact with a roll, but he still ended up crashing into the wall with his back, feet facing the ceiling.  
"Shit", the young magician cursed under his breath, realizing now, that he had underestimated the attacker and didn't think of a possible second sniper, who was probably only a few floors above him, judging by the fact that the bullet hit the back of his leg. Now that his glider's frame was smashed to bits, he knew that the only ways to leave were by either going to one of the lower floors and jump out of the window or by walking through either the main- or one of the side doors, be that in disguise or cuffs.

Raising himself up with a pained groan, Kaito quickly estimated the damage to his leg, which seemed to be bad enough so that he wouldn't be able to run efficiently and even walking pained him heavily. But he had no time to lose right now, so he made his way over to where he knew the stairs must be, always listening for footsteps which would tell him where those murderers in black were. To his luck it didn't seem like anybody had the intention to come up or down the stairs and so Kaito started to descend the steps, an action which shot piercing flames of pain through his left leg.  
"God damnit, why does it always have to be in high buildings, where Aoko is watching?", he cursed under his breath, slowly stepping down the stairs, thinking back on her surprised face when the little detective, shoved them down the stairs.  
" _At least, I can definitely count on him, when it comes to get the two girls out of danger_ ", Kaito thought, a little less tense than before. But he was immediately brought back from his thoughts when he heard the faint slamming of a door somewhere higher up.  
"Crap", he cursed out lowly, now hurrying down the stairs as fast as he could with his bad leg, "if that is one of them I'm so screwed."

O

Normally Conan would have made sure to check for attackers in the corridors, which lead to the stairs, but currently the trampling sounds of steps only a few floors above made this action not only pointless but gravely suicidal. When they were rushing down the stairs, they barely managed to avoid the gang of black-clothes guys, which were scattered one floor beneath the roof and who didn't waver a second to pursue them.

Feeling his lungs burn and his feet ache, Conan knew that it would be hard for his child body to make it down the remaining 9 floors without slowing down, which was something he didn't dare to do. Pushing his body further and further, the grade schooler almost felt like his feet were about to fall off, but despite the pain he strained his body even more. But all his conviction and all his willpower were not enough to power his muscles, not enough to keep him running at top speed. He could feel his feet getting heavier when they passed the 6th floor.

" _Almost there!_ " he thought, making another turn to continue his run, which showed him now the 5th floor sign.  
 _"Come on!_ ", he mentally roared, trying to challenge his body to mobilize it's last resources.  
" _There is already the 4th!_ " and with that thought, he took another turn, following Ran's waving hair, but when he turned again, his feet were to slow and instead of taking another step, he stumbled and fell forward at full speed.  
"SHIT!" he cursed, readying himself for the impact with the stairs. He felt how his whole body smacked into something soft and warm, only to be pressed against what felt like a rapidly inflating and deflating pillow.  
"What?! Where...?", confused, he opened his eyes and found himself looking up at a feminine chin, which lead up to a pair of flushed cheeks and blue eyes, over which a mop of wild brown hair jumped up and down with every step. He could swear it was Ran, but he knew exactly that it wasn't possible, because she still ran in front of him. Then his mind, clouded by pain and exhaustion finally managed to remember the other teen which accompanied them: Aoko Nakamori.

While he processed all the information, the two girls reached the bottom of the stairs and darted now through the empty entering hall straight at the main door. To their luck it was still open, but as soon as the crossed the threshold, they had to throw themselves to the right and the left to avoid the hail of bullets. Crouching behind two stone pillars, marble as Conan's brain provided uselessly, left and right from the glass door, they could hear the shouts of their pursuers and the occasional sound of a bullet ricocheting from the hard surface of the pillars and floor. They were trapped like rabbits in their holes!

In barely a second Conan's mind rifled through the options he had at his disposal, wagered them against each other to think off the best course of action, but regrettably he couldn't come up with anything useful in the end. The steps were now only a few meters away from them and every moment the black coats would pass the pillars to shoot them down mercilessly.

O

Aoko was remarkably calm for a 17-year-old girl which was about to die every second now. Her apparent last thoughts wandered to the grinning prankster and Aoko only wished for another chance to tell him everything she hasn't dared, but deeply wanted to tell. With a last smile she braced herself for the end, vowing to watch over Kaito from the heavens and then the guns were fired. However, Aoko was mildly disappointed when the pain from her sore muscles and aching joints didn't go away, but the fact that it didn't hurt more than before was a positive experience. She continued to wait with closed eyes, waiting for whatever happens when you die.

She had expected a lot, expected to feel really light or heavy, but when she suddenly felt like somebody shook her at her shoulder she was slightly irritated. Trying to ignore the annoying feeling, she readied herself to accept death's embrace, which only added to her confusion by not appearing. At last, it didn't end with the ruff shaking, when suddenly a voice seemed to scream at her and after a few seconds annoyed her enough, so that she opened her eyes to see what tried to disrupt her peaceful act of fading away. Confused she looked at the now with relief flushed face of her father who continued to call out her name and then proceeded to drag her to a nearby police car. Only when she was seated in the back of a patrol car together with Ran and Conan, who was taken from her at some point during her "death", her brain finally managed to grasp that she indeed did not die.

O

Similar to Aoko, Ran also had some trouble understanding what just happened.

One moment she saw the nuzzle of a gun pointed at her and the next, the gun's owner fell to the floor with a cry of pain and agony, while clutching a wound in his stomach. Then a trample of feet rushed to them and in the next moment the Kid task force was storming the entrance hall, effectively running down the completely surprised criminals, who stood with their small handguns no chance against the outnumbering Riot squad protected by huge, bullet proof shields and clad in protective vests. The struggle was short and only two, non-deadly shots had to be fired at the attackers in black before the police officers could cuff every single one of them.

While the criminals were taken to the prison car, who was originally reserved for Kaitou Kid alone, Inspector Nakamori and a pair of other policemen came to care for them, asking how they felt, searching for wounds and handing them blankets along with bottles of water. Gladly following the officers, who brought them to the nearby police cars, Ran was only worried about little Conan, who has strained his small body so much that he wasn't even able to walk by himself.

Trembling faintly, the little body lay stiff in her arms, his eyes nearly closed and breathing flatly, likely to avoid the pain of his aching muscles and lungs. Occasionally he would force a cracked smile to signal her that everything was fine and that he only needed a rest, but even though the paramedics have confirmed that he was only exhausted, Ran still wouldn't dare to take her eyes off him for just a second. She shifted his position slightly, when he fell asleep, so he could rest comfortably, till he woke up or at least till he stopped trembling. Only now, when the immediate danger was over, Ran could recall how Kid should still be in the building, which caused her to lean carefully, as to not wake the sleeping boy in her arms, over to the window, hoping to spot a white dot against the black sky. However, there was nothing, no glider, no smoke and no thief.

O

"Ok, now I'm really screwed", Kaito thought as he hid silent and unmoving like a stone inside the tent, which was erected to illustrate how the American Indians lived. He managed to get out of the working spaces of the upper and middle floor and dragged himself to the upper most floor of the museum. There the sounds of footsteps were so loud, that he decided it would be better to hide instead of running, so he limped into the huge dark hall on the 4th floor, only to find that he was now in the human history area of the museum.

The giant room was empty, safe for some benches and trashcans in the middle, but the walls were used to display human evolution. Starting on the right side of the entrance, the walls were lined with huge pedestals on which artificial human figures posed in front of what showed their culture and daily lives. Trying to find a good hiding spot, Kaito wobbled along the walls and barely managed to throw himself inside the tent on the pedestal, which was labelled as "North America 15th century."

Only moments after his more than unsightly disappearance, the lights flickered on and thanks to the darkness inside the tent, Kaito had an easy time seeing through the rather thin layer of clothes. Figures of dark brown moved on a beige background, acting out every move his pursuers made and were now scattering throughout the room.  
"He has to be here, there were bloody prints on the door to this room" on bellowed out, conveniently explaining to Kaito how they had found him. Kaito mentally slapped himself for the grave mistake of not paying any mind to the blood from his wound, but luckily, he hadn't touched anything else with the blood smeared glove of his left hand. Carefully pulling both gloves off and turning their insides out, Kaito squeezed the ball of fabric inside his suit and pulled out another pair of gloves which he carried around just in case.

Now that his hands were clean once again, he looked after the wound of his leg, even though he could barely see anything thanks to its inconvenient position. Luckily and thanks to the special plaster, which Jii-san developed, the wound was covered and Kaito couldn't see any leaks where blood might pour out. Suddenly a loud noise could be heard from outside the tent and Kaito immediately prepared for what may come.

He released some of the tension when only angered shouts followed after the loud bang and judging from the fragmented conversation somebody has accidentally pushed over an armour set, over at the knight's pedestal. On his makeshift screen, the magician could observe the 6 henchmen of Snake were gathering nearby, were the loud crash occurred. But any fear that Kaito might feel from their proximate presence was quickly washed away by the maniac grin which sneaked itself on his face.

Quickly an utterly crazy and probably suicidal plan was formed in his mind and the magician had to prevent himself from chuckling. Rummaging in his pockets, he produced the remote control for the fuse-overloading which he had prepared beforehand and intended to use, in case the police wouldn't let him run off without a fight. Now that he had prepared his tool, the most dangerous part started. He carefully plopped his head out of the tent, gazing over to the door and memorizing everything between him and his path to freedom, but always ready to hide again in case somebody looked over in his direction. To his luck nobody seemed to have any interest in the boring display of human culture and after a few seconds he was ready to start the action.

Slipping quietly out into the open, Kaito pressed the button to kill the electricity and like planned the whole room went dark, when the lights went out. Now sprinting with light steps, Kaito hurried as fast as possible with his injured leg, to where he knew the group of henchmen stood. He stretched his arms out, guided by the shouting and his special googles, and, when he knew that his target was exactly in front of him, he pushed with all his might. The resulting scream and the loud clattering of metal were proof enough that his plan worked till now, but now he had to hurry even more. Quickly he took the coat and hat of the now unconscious guy on the floor and slipped them over his own attire, hiding the white Kid garment, while hurriedly dressing the other guy up too.

Just when he has positioned himself the lights went back on and showed how a dark clothed guy crouched over an armour suit on the ground, while a bunch of other dark figures stood around him. "Somebody pushed me and then ran to the door. It has to be Kid!", he shouted his voice low and commanding, while he prayed silently that they wouldn't notice the newly heard voice. But not noticing neither their unconscious comrade lying on the floor dressed in mail and plate nor the white pants of their new comrade, the group of henchmen stormed out of the door, splitting themselves up to go up and down the stairs and Kaito had, again thanks to his leg, huge difficulties to keep up with them.

Following the group downwards they quickly arrived on the second floor and Kaito could already smell the air of freedom, when the whole group came to a sudden stop. From one moment to the other, a bright light flooded the entrance hall and blinded Kaito and his group of temporary friends. But Kaito instantly knew what was about to happen, when the booming voice of Nakamori roared, "THIS IS THE POLICE. YOU ARE SURROUNDED! THROW AWAY YOUR WEAPONS AND COME OUT WITH RAISED HANDS!"  
Now that their eyes had adjusted to the bright light, the group of criminals could see the overwhelming police force and were quick to throw their weapons away.  
"Oh, crap! I can't let myself get caught as Kid, but running away would only kill me. Using smoke or flash bombs isn't an option either, that would let those criminals get away too. What to do? What to do?" Kaito's mind raced and just when the police started to move forward he had an idea. When only about 5 meters (16 feet) separated the police and the group of killers, Kaito pushed through them, throwing himself in front of the police officers who looked visibly confused upon seeing a tied up high school student.  
"Nakamori-san! Help me! I'm here!", Kaito screamed, his voice filled with relief and fright at the same time, playing the part of a hostage. And it worked indeed, soon two police officers helped him up and untied him, while their colleges cuffed the criminals, which were visibly puzzled by the sudden appearance of the teen.  
"Kaito-kun?! What are you doing here?", the running police inspector questioned, hurrying over to the rather miserably looking boy, who had seemed to be in a lot of pain. The boy mustered a last toothy grin, before his mind was pulled into darkness and his body went limp.

O

"What a day!" Nakamori thought, seating himself exhausted on the bonnet of a police car. It was supposed to be a completely normal heist, with the usual insults, nasty tricks and stupid traps Nakamori and his man would always face when they went up against Kid. But today Kid seemed to have pissed off the wrong people and not only brought danger to himself, but to everybody else too. Nakamori clenched his fists as the picture of his daughter, leaning against a stone pillar with her eyes closes surfaced again in front of his eyes. At that moment, he truly believed he had lost her. Lost her like he had lost her mother. Till this day, Nakamori hasn't forgiven himself fully for what has happened that night. This gruesome night 9 years ago.

"No point in bringing up the past.", he mumbled to himself, turning his mind back on the task at hand, which meant he would have to inform Aoko about what has happened to Kaito. Sighting audibly, he strolled over to his car, so he could bring Aoko, Ran and Conan to the hospital. Conan didn't want to go there, stuttering some nonsense about fear of hospitals, but Nakamori would make damn sure he would undergo a check-up and since Ran was his guardian's daughter he had to bring her along. As for Aoko, he thought that it would be the best if Kaito told her his story himself. The two of them had been strangely on edge towards each other as of late, despite the more than 10 years of friendship that bound them. He just hoped the two teens could bury their small quarrel, so that those little problems wouldn't grow to an unbreakable wall between the two. "Just do it better than your fathers.", the police officer sighted, his eyes clearly showing the exhaustion and pain of a life time in the frays.

* * *

The door slammed open and the young girl rushed through the white corridors, seemingly not sensing her own exhaustion from the day, since she heard from her father who lies in this building, waiting for her. Okay, he wasn't waiting for her since he didn't even know that she was coming, but deep down in heart she knew, that those were the times in which he needed her. He was always like this, doing something incredibly stupid for the silliest reason, only to end up bruised and beaten. But even when they were kids his poker face didn't let any of the pain show on his grinning face, when he told her it was nothing.

But she knew him for years and as the time went by, she understood him better. Oh, not that she was able to see through his poker face, that was something she wouldn't even try. No, she just learned who he was, how he would see things and what he would feel. Whenever somebody was in danger Kaito would go and help them as best as he could, even when that person didn't want his help. When something went wrong, Kaito would proudly take the blame and shield his friends, no matter what punishment he had to take upon himself. This habit of his wasn't as prominent as when they were kids, but it was still one of the main reasons why he had such a bad reputation in the ranks of their teachers.

Finally arriving in front of the operation room, Aoko could only wait for the red light to finally stop blinking. She heard from her father that it wasn't anything life threatening, but it still pained Aoko to know her best friend was just behind that doors, gravely hurt and she couldn't even spend him some comfort. Settling herself in one of the many empty chairs, Aoko could soon hear how the room echoed the sound of her sobs.

O

At first there was nothing but darkness.

Then there came the feeling of numbness.

Then his mind resumed to work and like a robot, who was turned on, Kaito seemed to awake from a dreamless sleep.

He tried to move, do anything besides thinking, but his body didn't even respond to him. It felt like he was just floating in the air, not feeling, not sensing anything at all and even his mind was slowly lulled back to sleep by a feeling of soothing heaviness. He tried to stay awake, didn't want to go back to sleep, but he was just too tired to not drift away.

The next time his brain awoke again, not much had changed, he still felt tired and heavy, but this time he barely managed to open his eyes just for a tiny bit. Immediately his sight was invaded by bright light, trying to burn away his sense of seeing or at least that was his first impression, but when he blinked slowly, the light faded slightly and instead of an ocean of white, he could make out faint silhouettes of grey.

He needed a few minutes to let his eyes adjust to the brightness of his surroundings, but when they finally could see properly, he was also able to feel the rest of his body. Failing at raising his torso, he could just slowly turn his head to look around, recognizing that he was in a hospital room. The whitewashed wall with the bright yellow curtains and the a bit miserable looking room plant, could not be mistaken for anything else than a lonely single room, somewhere in a quiet corner of a hospital.

Assuming it was the same where he always ended up, his attention was quickly drawn to other matters, manly the heaviness of his left arm, which puzzled him. Looking to his left, he had expected to see his arm in cast, because he had seriously injured it at some point of the heist, but the mop of dark, tousled hair quickly disproved his assumption. Of course, Kaito recognized the tangled mess some would call a bird's nest immediately, since he saw it nearly on a daily basis. Finally, able to control his body's movements, he managed to shift his head, so he could look at the messy mane from another perspective, an effort rewarded with the sight of a sleeping Aoko. An extremely adorable and funny looking Aoko.

Her squished cheek rested on her arm, while her mouth was slightly open, and a drop of drool slowly creeped down to her chin. Kaito couldn't help but smile over the innocent and childish girl who he considered his best friend, imagining how she had vowed to herself last night, to stay awake until Kaito would wake up only to doze of a few minutes later. But that was, who Aoko was and Kaito wouldn't want it any other way.

* * *

By the time Aoko finally began to stir, a sign that she would wake up shortly, the birds had already begun to whistle outside of the hospital room's window, through which the first rays of golden light shone. It had been nearly two hours since Kaito awoke from his slumber and despite the now painful numbness in his arm, he patiently waited for the girl to awake on her own accord.

He knew that she had to be very exhausted, because despite the fuzziness in his head, caused by the pain medications, he noticed the band aids and the a little bit pestering smell she gave off, obviously steaming from sweat. She likely run down those stairs and maybe hurt herself when crashing in a door or tripping, but at least she had no grave injuries, so the little Detective did a fine job. Thinking of the small sleuth, Kaito wondered if he and his "Nee-chan" were also okay. He didn't question the wits of his rival and despite his size, his small body was in remarkable shape, however he was still a child and a child's body would break down sooner than any teenager.

But his train of thoughts was bluntly interrupted, when the dark, tousled mob of hair finally was lifted from his arm, accompanied by a groggy grunt.  
"Kaito?", the girl, now sitting upright beside his bed, rubbed her sleepy eyes, looking like a kitten which just awoke.  
"KAITO!?" she cried, louder this time, her face now obviously displaying recognition upon seeing the boy, clad in a hospital pyjama. Moments later she flung herself into his arms, tightly embracing him, while sobbing, "Bakaito! Did you know how worried I was? When I heard from dad, that you were injured by those criminals, I feared the worst. What if you died? Who would I chase with my mop, after he flipped my skirt? Who would tease me for not getting a perfect score but only 98%?"  
Her rambling was slowly getting faster and more slurred, until Kaito couldn't understand her babbling at all anymore, save for the reoccurring whimpered "Kaito".  
"Hey, Aoko. Come on. I'm fine! It was nothing serious, only a scratch.", he tried to comfort her, patting her back with one hand, while the other was stroking her hair gently.  
"A SCRATCH?! Kaito, you fainted! How can somebody faint because of a scratch?!" the girl interjected, her face dripping with tears, which cracked Kaito's heart, like drops of water slowly crack a smouldering stone. The guilt for making her cry again, be it as Kid or as Kaito, pierced his heart like a thin needle would pierce a tomato. But he could not allow himself to let his feelings take over, could not allow her to get hurt even more. So, he shoved it aside, all of it and his poker face fell over his face, like a second skin.  
"I inhaled some smoke and was a bit weak because I had no launch or dinner. So, my body kinda gave in. Trust me, I'll never leave you.", he proclaimed, his voice soothing an comforting. It horrified him how easily a lie slipped from his tongue. Not a fluke or a half-truth like magician often used to further confuse their audience, but a purely made up lie, only fabricated to trick the one person he loved the most. But when her sobbing finally stopped, and her teary eyes didn't leak anymore, when she starred at him.  
"Really? You promise?", the police daughter sniffled, her blue eyes shining in the light of the morning sun and from all the tears. The sight was simply breath-taking and, despite all the guilt he felt, despite the next lie he told, he couldn't help but let a smile bloom on his face, when he gently wished away the remaining droplets from her cheeks, "When did I ever leave you?"

O

His breathing was even and steady, his eyes closed, giving him the face of a normal sleeping child and all in all, he looked like the adorable little brother she knew and adored. But Ran knew that, neither his sleep nor today's situation were as peaceful as they looked.

The fact that Conan fainted from exhaustion, when they finally escaped the grasp of their pursuers, was prove enough of how dire the day truly has been. At the time of the incident, Ran did not really grasp, what it meant that the attackers were armed. One heard news of armed robbers and shootings on a nearly daily basis, in a city as large as Tokyo, but despite the constant threat Ran never felt intimidated by the existence of such horrible tools. Not horrible in the sense of cruel or inhuman, in fact these machines depicted their creator so accurately that it was mindboggling, but horrible in how efficient they were at doing what they were supposed to do.

As a material artist, Ran knew the concept of efficient killing better than most others, but even her, over years of continuous training, sharpened and trained moves, paled in comparison to the uncompromising power a gun had over somebodies life. If one were not familiar with the concepts of modern war and conflict, the mere thought of killing somebody by curling one's finger must seem like utter and complete madness to them and Ran could perfectly understand why.  
 _"If anybody of them would have aimed correctly, if we were just a second slower, we would be dead, all of us!_ ", she shuddered at that thought, because it once again caused the huge fear deep in her heart to stir in its sleep, threatening to awake and render all her efforts useless. This feeling of inferiority and helplessness had finally driven her to pick up karate. Years ago, just when Shinichi was starting his career as a detective, they often faced murderers and wicked criminals, who could kill them in a matter of seconds. But all those times, Shinichi has fended them of with his confidence and reasoning alone. All of them declared defeat and turned themselves in without resisting, all expect for one.

It had been a quite evening and they've just returned from watching a movie, which Ran could not remember, but knew had been horrible, because Shinichi was ranting about it. Suddenly, they heard a shrieking scream from a nearby alley and true to his detective nature, Shinichi immediately rushed to its source, eager to prove his unmatched intellect once again. Ran had followed him obviously, feeling much more scared by the thought of being left alone than face a criminal. What a foolish girl she had been at that time. Because once they reached the abandoned crossing the sight of a towering man before a dead woman greeted them.

Till today the gory details of that evening were engraved in Ran's memory and just revisiting them caused a sickening feeling to flood her stomach. The man was just buckling his belt back, when he heard the two teens approach and turned away from the woman lying on the bare street. Her shirt was torn and if not for the deep shadows of the early night, one could have seen her exposed breasts, swollen from the grave mishandling and nearly the same could be observed between the area of her tights, as the police later discovered. Casting a surprised glance, which turned into a burning stare upon seeing the young witnesses, the man faced them fully and slowly approach them, reminding Ran of a lurking hyena, ready to tear his next victim apart.

He had said something, but Ran could not remember what it had been, only the answer of Shinichi remained in her mind. "The police will be hear soon, so you better give up right away, before this turns ugly.", but the strong words were betrayed by the shaking body of the young detective, who could only stare at the approaching man, unable to do anything to stop him. For Ran, this was when her "magical glasses" shattered and she could see for the first time, how dangerous and unforgiving the world could be. Till now, Shinichi was her knight, warding of all evil and keeping her save, but right then, she recognized his own weakness, and, despite its obviousness, this discovery struck her as being incomprehensible.

Even back in the current time, next to Conan's hospital bed, her body started to shiver, when she remembered how the hulking beast of a human closed in on them, liking his lips while the smile on them broadened. Closer and closer he came, slowly raising his hand, directing it straight at her face. It seemed like he would touch her in mere seconds and all Ran could do was stare. But before he actually touched her, his hand was slapped away and in the next moment Ran's view was blocked by the back of Shinichi's head, who had jumped between them. She could clearly see, how his legs were shacking and how his mind was drowned in fear, but despite all the odds, he still stood up to face the criminal and to protect her.

But as beautiful of a fairy tale as this would have been, reality was hardly that kind and so, the man just huffed out irritated and in the next moment his fist connected with Shinichi's jaw. The young boy, taken aback by the punch as much as Ran, flew a few feet, before he crashed into the wall of the alley, sinking down to the ground. He tried to struggle back to his feet, but the shock was too much for his body to take and even Shinichi's iron will was unable to convince his body to get back up. The man only laughed at this, sounding like a mix of a rusty joint and the howling of the wind, and quickly turned his gaze back to girl in front of him, his eyes now gliming with insatiable lust.

He raised his hand again, his finger hovering only centimetres before Ran's face. He raised his foot, intending to take another step toward his victim, but his foot never came back down. With a howling cry, a young woman has suddenly appeared before him and planted her foot right into his stomach, sending him flying backwards where he crashed on the bare concrete. He yelled out in pain and his haunting stare turned back to his attacker, but before he had time to react, the woman stood over him and slammed her foot down. Ran didn't know where exactly the woman had hit, neither did she know where their saviour came from.

"Ran-neechan?", a small voice brought her back from one of her worst memories, only to remind her of the rather depressing reality.  
"I'm fine." the little boy in the bed now assured, bringing his hand up to whip a few tears from her cheek, "You don't have to worry over me, I was just a little tired." He seemed to want to continue, but whatever Conan meant to say was cut off, when Ran suddenly trapped him in a tight hug, squeezing his tiny body tightly yet gently.  
"How can you say I shouldn't worry? Conan-kun, we nearly died!", she breathed out, her voice interrupted by sobs and whimpers, clearly conveying how miserable she felt.

O

Not failing to read the mood of his Nee-chan, all Conan could do was to bring his hands up and hug her back, whispering soothing tones and trying to comfort her as well as he could. He knew, how much such things worked up the gentle girl in his arms, who only had become a fearsome karate practitioner thanks to his own arrogance.

Gritting his teeth at the thought, Conan could once again add this day to his list of painful lessons, which reminded him of when he failed in his task. It was exactly like it had been back then, in that deserted alley and the criminal. For Shinichi too, this was a painful memory, carved into his brain for all eternity, reminding him of his own weakness.

That day, the person he cared for more than anything else got nearly killed in the most gruesome way imaginable and all he could do was just lean against a wall, not able to move, not able to think. If not for that woman, Shinichi had no doubt that not only would they have lost their lives but would have been broken before that. For that reason, he had always supported Ran in her karate, not because it would protect her, but because it reminded them both of their saviour, who brought them hope in this dark world. Hope that, even after they've parted ways, would shine bright, manifested in the karate this woman had taught Ran. Hope that gave them another chance.

* * *

 _All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment._

 _Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part._

 _Hope you liked the chapter and till next time._

 _Farewell_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

«You are such an IDIOT!", the voice of a young girl boomed through the hospital, showing very clearly how upset she must be.

"Really Kaito", Aoko continued her scolding a little quieter, but still loud enough to be heard in the adjacent rooms, "How can you be so stupid? Even a grade schooler would know not to follow thieves!"

"But I didn't follow a thief, Aoko!", Kaito was quick to defend himself, "I followed the all mighty Kid-sama to have a contest with him. Besides, is your great idol not a grade-schooler who is following a thief and even murderers on a daily basis?"

"Don't drag Conan-kun into this! He is much more reliable than most policemen and he is perfectly capable of looking after himself!", Aoko shrieked back, startling Kaito with her outburst. Not that it was not normal for the Kid's capture squad to raise their voice, but normally it was a bellowing growl and not this close to hysteria seeming shriek. Sighing slightly, Kaito opened his arms and just looked at Aoko, before a soft smile formed on his lips.

"Aoko.", he called lightly, being already familiar with this sort of behaviour. When her mother had passed away, she had been even more on edge, not crying like she usually did, but being a lot more hot-tempered than usual, even by the Nakamori family standards. Only when he had followed her to her room and sat beside the curled-up girl, he had truly understood how bad it affected hear. At first, she did not even seem to notice him, but when he softly called her name, asking her if she needed a hug, only then the little girl threw herself in his arms. She did the same when his father died, did the same when her father was badly injured and now also, she did the same.

Slowly stroking her head, whispering soothing tones to her, Kaito only sat their patently, waiting for his best friend to regain herself. She had always been a very emotional person, who cared deeply for the people around her and got quickly upset when they were hurt. Despite her hot temper and the flaming passion she often displayed, Aoko was a rather insecure person, quickly to question and doubt herself, a trait of hers which often hindered her at realising her full potential. She had relied on others far more than he did, but she also supported them far better than he did. In a way, she was like a molten chocolate, not quick at getting sturdy and stable when alone, but incredibly sticky and matching when she was paired with other ingrediencies. A smile stole itself on Kaito's face, when he realised what a sweet combo ice cream and molten chocolate made. Now there were only missing a cookie dough to rest in.

* * *

The streets very pretty much empty and only the streetlamps shone in the dark night when Aoko finally reached her house. After she had heard how Kaito got captured, she assured herself that he was fine and the briefly visited Conan-kun, before she went home. Luckily none of the boys was in serious trouble and both could return home after another few days' rest, even though Kaito had to use a crutch, if he wanted to walk around. But Aoko knew that he would be fine, it was Kaito after all. And idiotic magician who always got chased around, constantly got hurt at Kid heists and was nearly killed last night… now Aoko wasn't so sure that he would be fine anymore.

Shaking her head violently, Aoko tried to focus on other things and opened the door, only to be greeted by the usual silent darkness, which indicate once again that her father was not home probably still filling in reports back at the police HQ. Annoyance bubbled up in her, annoyance over herself and her negative thoughts. She always had to see things in a negative way, didn't she?

Sure, Kaito got hurt, but it was nothing serious right, so no reason to worry. But when she walked up the stair, to go to her room, a tiny voice inside her head informed her that it might be more severe the next time and another was quick to follow up that people were usually not as lucky as Kaito was. On top of that, Kaito was shot when he only should have been a hostage, so his behaviour didn't seem to be very self-preserving either. Adding to that, there was also…

SMACK!

The loud sound seemed to echo in the emptiness of her bedroom, and when Aoko opened her eyes, she found herself looking at a scared girl in the mirror, with teary eyes and puffed red cheeks. She let her hands slide from her face, seating herself numbly on the bed.

Was this real all she could do? Come home, slap herself and wait? Seeing how the people close to her got hurt and nearly murdered? No! This could not be! She could not be that useless, right? But then again, it was her fault that Conan and Ran got hurt. Was her fault to not be able to look after Kaito, always losing him in the thick crowds. And yet she did not do anything to make up for it. Only brought trouble.

"But you caught Conan-kun, when he was about to fall down the stairs, right? If not for you he would be dead by now.", another voice, silent till now, informed her, "And think of all the criminals that were arrested, thanks to you or do you think they would have run into the arms of the police on their own?" Aoko considered for a moment, thinking it through and then decided that the voice was indeed right. Granted, she did bring trouble for the others, but unlike before, today she was able to be on the thief's heels, even though Conan was the one guiding them. But she could surely learn from him how to figure out how to do so herself, if she just paid close attention on future heist.

Future heists?

Something about those words bugged her, yet she could not put her finger on it. Deciding that it probably didn't matter that much, Aoko was getting ready to go to bed. Tomorrow will be classes, but only in the morning and so she intended to stop by at the detective agency in the afternoon. Exited just by the thought of it, Aoko snuggled into her sheets and was quickly asleep, dreaming of future chases, where she was the one nearly grabbing onto Kid's cape and dragging him down.

* * *

The following day seemed like it would be the usual boring school day, followed by a mind-boggling boring search for some runaway-cat together with the Detective Boys. Not that Conan didn't like them or their youthful enthusiasm and even Haibara was only slightly irritating on normal days, but it still promised to be a very eventless afternoon.

However, contrary to his assumption, something that happened not often, the Detective Boys didn't go to search for the cat, because it had already been found and every one of them had made plans for the afternoon. Taking after the other three, Haibara also excused herself for the afternoon, to work some more on the antidote and so, Conan was left with an empty schedule for the rest of the day.

Not knowing what he should do, he just ventured back to the agency and maybe read a bit or help Ran with the housework, since Kogoro was out on a case as well and thus no detective work where he could help was around. But on his way home he suddenly spotted a brown mess of hair, joyfully jumping up and down while its owner hopped down the street, whistling a small melody which Conan recognized as some silly children song. At first, he wondered why Ran was so happy, but with a second more observing glance, he quickly identified the Ran-look-alike as Aoko Nakamori.

He had already gathered that she was a cheerful girl, but even though he didn't know her very well, it seemed to him that she was waiting for something with growing anticipation. Naturally curious and not bound by rules of self-restraint, which normally applied to adults, Conan darted down the street, catching up to the Inspector's daughter, while cheerfully shouting her name like every grade schooler would. The girl glimpsed over her shoulder with a questioning look, which immediately turned into a childlike grin upon recognizing who had called for her.

"Conan-kun", she exclaimed, when the little boy had stop in front of her and squatted down to meet him on the same eye level, "What are you doing here?"

Playing the part of a child, by greatly exaggeration his curiousness and grinning widely, Conan quickly answered," I was on the way home, when I saw you walking down the street. Are you going to meet a friend?"

Aoko laughed lightly, not bothering to hold back her emotions even by a tiny bit, "The same little detective as always.", and then eagerly asked "Tell me what gave me away?"

"Gave you away? You're in a completely different part of town shortly after school is out. That does not leave a lot of other options." Conan stated, furrowing his brows slightly over the girl opposite to him, who just brought her index finger up to her chin and seemed to think of the logic behind the grade-schooler's explanation.

" _Is she really a high-schooler? Reminds me a lot more of Ayumi-chan than any teenager._ ", the little sleuth though dryly, but quickly asking her anew to not let Aoko get suspicious of his behaviour, "Who are you visiting?"

Turning her attention back to the little boy, Aoko's smile only broadened, "You are an aspiring detective. Why don't YOU tell ME?"

Conan had to prevent his hand from slamming itself on his forehead, before he could muster an answer and a somewhat believable smile, "How should I know that? I'm detective, not fortune teller."

"Ohh… then ask me some questions?" the girl beamed back at him, making a gesture which apparently should encourage him.

Sighing slightly, Conan decided to play along with the overly playful girl, "First question: who are you visiting?"  
Aoko's answer was a pouty expression, followed by a wail for suited to a 3 year old, "Conan-kun! Try for real!"

"Okay, okay", Conan answered, a little bit startled by how similar she sounded to Ran, when she was upset AND when she still had been a grade schooler. But putting their uncanny resemblance away for now, he focused his mind back on the task at hand and he already had a suspicion.

Aoko did not seem to be in any hurry, instead she even choose to drag out their meeting by letting him puzzle her plans out. That indicated that she either had nothing to do, which was unlikely since nobody would randomly walk to the other end of the city out of boredom, or that she did not need to hurry. This meant that she did not look forward to where she was going, but that was near impossible since she seemed cheerful and happy when walking and not unwilling or scared. So, the only option was, that she had already found what she was searching for and since she wasn't carrying any bags, which indicated shopping, that meant she ventured out to visit the him and Ran at the detective agency.

Looking back up at her with firm eyes and puffing his chest out a little, to play the role of 'proud grade-schooler' with such professionalism, that he doubted even Hattori would see through it, he unveiled his deduction, "You're her to visit Ran-neechen!"

O

The statement was so full of confidence, that Aoko could not help but dropping her jaw. She had expected Conan to ask her one or two questions and then state the probability of her possible destinations, but never did she even dream of him seemingly reading her mind.

"H-h-how… did you… know that?", she asked, still completely staggered by the simple statement to the impossible task, "Are you an Esper, who can read minds?"

Conan only raised an eyebrow at her question, before he begun to chuckle lightly."You should see your face, Aoko-neechan. It looks hilarious!"

The chuckle then grew into a very un-Conan-like giggle and Aoko could only scowl at him, before she decided to thump him lightly on the head, which surprisingly made him ceased his display of amusement.

"Sorry, Aoko-neechan. You see I just… no, never mind. Actually, I'm a magician and a magician never reveals his tricks, right", Conan now grind up at Aoko, pretty clearly mocking her, but what could she do, aside from going along with his little charade. Heaving a sigh, Aoko eventually stood up and stretched her hand out to him, "Come on, Ran-chan will only worry if you are too late."

Conan hesitated at first. Normally he didn't let anybody else besides Ran hold his hand, but when he saw her expectation growing into a mix of anxiety and uncertainty, he finally grabbed her outstretched hand and let himself get dragged along. If it was because of her resemblance to Ran or because her grimace made him feel like denying candy to a small child, he couldn't tell and even when they were back at the agency, his mind had yet to provide a reasonable explanation.

O

The room was exactly as it had been last time, except for the different locations of beer cans and new post-its on various pieces of furniture, reminding somebody of things like, "Lock the door" or "Don't put forks into the microwave."  
At first Aoko would have guessed it to be reminders for the child of the house, but since this child was Conan and Ran would certainly not put those up for herself, the last possible option painted a pretty disturbing picture of the "Great Sleeping Kogoro's" abilities.

But her confused stares at the paper slips were promptly interrupted when Ran came back from the kitchen with a tray in hands, caring two hot chocolates for Aoko and Conan and a cup of tea for herself. Setting them on the small coffee table with practiced ease and seating herself on the couch, Ran began to stir her tea with seemingly great caution. Aoko was already expecting her to be wary and cautious, since she very much knew who was responsible for their near-death experience. But Aoko had no reason to blame her, since it wasn't exactly normal to get invited, only to face armed gangsters as a high-schooler or even as a grade-schooler.

"I was really surprised, when you came to visit us, Aoko-chan. Especially if you look at how horrible our little adventure turned out.", Ran started, surprising Aoko, who thought her unexpectedly cheerful, when considering how dangerous the whole incident turned out. Aoko took that as a sign of Ran having a very good day so far but did not even consider that the karate champion didn't blame her for what happened that day. She was still busy with shouldering her own grief and self-criticism and continued to ponder over how she could make it up to Ran. Realizing that she had yet to answer the question, which her host asked her, Aoko could only wave around her hands and stammer a reply, "Ah, no, . . . I mean, yes it turned out horrible, but . . . I don't, . . . ehm I mean . . . "

Her stuttering was interrupted when Ran, who only giggled in the beginning, now burst out into hearty laughter, causing Aoko's to google at her in surprise.

"Aoko-chan", Ran finally breathed out in between her laughter, "I'm sorry, but your babbling is just too cute, I almost mistook you for Ayumi-chan when she talks with me about boys."

Now even Conan, who had only smirked innocently till now, started to chuckle, obviously knowing the person Ran was referring to, but Aoko could not find reason to laugh along. Her cheeks now started to bloom in a healthy pink and she started to fidget around, feeling very uncomfortable with the whole situation. Ran fell immediately into another fit of laughter, upon seeing Aoko siting on the coach, looking like a girl that had to use the toilet, but was too shy to ask. At least a minute went by, till Ran had finally regained some composure.

"I'm *giggle* so sorry, Aoko *chuckle*-chan, but your face right now *snicker* was just to amusing.", and with that she started to giggle again, behaving very immature for once.

Conan, even though he was really happy to see Ran laugh like this, finally felt pity for the other girl and made his way over to her, to comfort her a little, "Aoko-neechan? You don't have to take this" he pointed at the still laughing Ran" seriously, she just really likes to tease people."

Aoko turned her head to face him and her whole composure, who was strangely on edge since she entered the room, relaxed somewhat, seemingly shaking off a guilt or burden of some sort.

By the time they could continue their conversation, Aoko had already finished her hot chocolate and Ran, being the good hostess, she was, readily went to get her a refill. But instead of a refill, Aoko wanted to finally ask the question, which lay on her tongue since she saw Conan earlier. Ran seemed to notice this, yet Aoko could not tell if it was a women's intuition or her unusual gloomy mood, which let the other girl notice.

Siting back down on the coach, Ran now focused Aoko with her gaze, eyes serious and ready, for whatever was to come up. Taking this as a gesture of encouragement, Aoko finally voiced her thoughts, "I know this might come at a bad time, but…", no longer able to face Ran, she turned her eyes to the ground, and her hands started to clench, "…what will you do about the Kid heists in the future?"

Now that the question was out, Aoko feared Ran's reaction even more. In the short time, in which she knew the other girl, Aoko had come to the conclusion, that Ran was not somebody to rage loudly, like she herself or her father did, neither did she seem to take her anger out on others. Yet, the sheer rudeness of her question would be enough to send any loving sister figure in a berserk mode, squashing anything that might harm her sibling.

The more surprised she was, when Ran only sighed and sunk back into the cushions, "Even though I can't say I'm happy to talk about this topic, I'm glad that you are still willing to talk about it. This only shows, how serious you are about the whole topic."

A small smile now bloomed on Ran's face, when she started to talk once again, "You see, I already had a talk about this with Conan-kun and we have reached an agreement. We will continue to visit Kid's heist, but he promised me not to run after the thief anymore." She now turned to look at the small boy, who sat beside Aoko, wearing a mixture of guilt and understanding on his face. It seemed, that he really knew, what his actions meant for others and was now content with the agreement they've made. But this was not what Aoko had expected, not by a long shot and so she could only silently sit there and stare at the odd pair of siblings.

However, a sudden chuckle from Ran snapped her out of her starring immediately, "You really thought I would blame you for what happened that night, didn't you? "Ran now inquired, her eyes showing a level of sympathy and understanding Aoko had never expected to encounter that day.

"Well . . . you see . . .", Aoko started, once again stammering, "I don't . . . I mean how . . . it was my fault after all. If I had not asked you, you would never have come and got hurt." Clenching the straps of her bag, Aoko now concluded, what seemed to be the general truth to her, "So, how can it NOT be my fault?"

O

At the girl's statement, Ran could not help but smile sadly. She knew this feeling. Knew it far too well. Not being able to find a reasonable explanation why something went down the drain and then proceeding to take the blame upon oneself, since, as easy it was to put the blame on an unknown person, as hard was it to see an acquaintance or even worse a friend as the cause of the problems. It was after all easier to accuse and disdain oneself, instead of betraying the trust one put in others. Even the comforting words and reassuring gesture she received from others, would not be able to convince her of her own innocence.

Thoughts like 'if I only had been faster' or 'if I noticed earlier' always came to question her own abilities once again and dismiss one's own competence. To simply be able to see things as there are and not put the blame on anyone, was what she admired and envied most of Shinichi's countless talents. Whenever he was near her, she felt like every problem and every fault could be simply whisked away just by recalling the order of events once again. When Shinichi was around, she felt like nothing was determined and every negative could quickly be turned into a positive. When he was around, she felt like she could make mistakes. When he was around, she felt safe.

But since he left, nothing was safe anymore. Where the path seemed to be clear before, there was now only mist, masking whatever holes and traps may lay on the way. With Shinichi, she knew she could simply follow him, bath in his radiant light and simply grasp for his shirt, when she felt alone. But now he was gone and whatever future seemed so certain, so destined, was now crumbling and falling to ruins and there was nothing she could do. Nothing besides wait and believe. Believe in her childhood friend, her shining knight to come back and safe her from the approaching darkness.

She knew how naive all those thoughts were, knew that life was not that easy. But when faced with broken family bonds, an alcoholic father, a murder-attracting little brother and a vanished best-friend, there were more than enough moments where she simply wanted to give up, curl up in a corner and cry for help. But she was no little child, not anymore and so she knew nobody would come. And so, she would stand up, wear this smiling mask once again, live the life she was supposed to live. She could not let others worry over her own problems, could not let them shoulder her burden. This was the mess she herself made and it was her duty to clean it up. It was her fault and her responsibility.

This, she has decided months ago and since then, she played her role as responsible bigger sister, caring daughter and attentive student to the best of her abilities. She constantly reminded herself, that she could do this, that she had to do this. And yet, she found herself far too often faced with walls too high to jump over and too strong to tear down. Till now, she has managed, thanks to friends and miracles, but she did not know how long this could go on, did not know where this would lead her. In the end, she was still a teenage girl, not ready to walk her own way and too dependent on others. And this was frustrating, so immensely frustrating. But she had to cope with it and crying or raging would not change anything. And so, she put her mask back on, hid her feelings and continued to walk on. Either she would make it, or brake while trying.

O

If the atmosphere was awkward before, now it was unbearable. After Aoko had confirmed her own fault, Ran had fallen into deep thoughts and stayed emerged for over two minutes by now. Two minutes that felt like an eternity to Aoko, since she could not tell whether Ran was thinking over the truth or the weight of her fault. The whole atmosphere was so tense, that she simply wanted to stand up and leave, but on the other hand she had made it this far and so she absolutely didn't want to leave. But waiting for Ran's answer seemed even more awkward, however Aoko feared that every move she made would snap Ran out of her train of thought and she absolutely didn't want to do that.

So, Aoko was stuck.

She didn't want to be here any longer but couldn't simply stand up and leave and all the while Ran was sitting there, staring at the table as though it was the cause of all the evil in the world.  
Aoko was so agitated and fidget, that she could not help but visible jump when a small hand patted her arm. Whirling her head around like a prey animal searching for its hunter, she stared into a pair of bespectacled, blue eyes, which widened slightly at her extreme reaction.  
"Aoko-neechan? Are you okay?", the boy asked, a mixture of pity and worry in his voice.  
"Yes, yes", Aoko shoot back, her voice high and cracking, "I'm fine, completely fine"

O

Starring back at her for a moment and noticing how she was hyperventilating by now, Conan grabbed one of her hands with both of his and started to talk in a slow and slightly lower voice than usual, "Close your eyes . . . feel your lungs . . . feel your breath . . .breath in . . . and out . . . and in . . . and out".

To further underline his words, he followed his own instruction and even though Aoko did not do so herself, just seeing the small boy displaying the calming-exercise helped her to calm down a bit. She finally went along with his words, closed her eyes, took a long and deep breath, held it for a few seconds and finally let it go, feeling how the air rushed out of her lungs. She felt her empty lungs, felt how they wanted to refill, but she waited for another few seconds, before she let them take a second, long and deep breath.

She continued the exercise for a few more breaths and then slowly opened her eyes. Not only had her heartrate calmed down, but she also felt like her breathing had returned back to normal and her body had relaxed. On top of that, the room seemed now brighter and warmer, even though nothing had changed. Ran was still sitting on the coach, glaring determinedly at the coffee table, but when she had looked scary and frightening before, she now looked rather funny and cute, like one of those garden gnomes who were made with this angry scowl, seemingly cursing the world and everything in it, but looking so adorably cute at the same time.

Aoko couldn't help but to chuckle slightly at the sight, but to her luck Ran did not seem to notice, since her merciless stare was still directed at the piece of furniture in front of her.

"She often looks like that, when she is thinking over what we have for dinner", a voice besides Aoko remarked equally quietly as to not disturb Ran.

Aoko turned her head to look back at the small boy and asked, "So, will you have potatoes or carottes in your soup this evening?"

She only got an amused snort as an answer, followed by a light head shake, but the cheerful atmosphere turned quickly, when Conan turned his eyes back at her. His voice was calmer and much less childish, when he spoke his next words, "Don't take her silence as any sort of confirmation for your statement, Aoko-neechan. I'm sure Ran-neechan does absolutely not agree with your view and sees you in no way responsible for what happened. After all, you couldn't have known those gangsters would appear, you couldn't have known we would get shoot at. So do not blame yourself for this, you are as much a victim as any other, who was hurt."

The seriousness and authority in the little boy's words, took aoko aback and she felt like they were not coming from a small child, but from an old man, who had seen enough hurt and pain in his life. But instead of questioning how a child could speak of such things, she just marveled at Conan's extraordinary insight. However, she was not fully convinced by his words.

"Are you sure, your Neechan is not blaming me for any of this?", she gingerly asked.

Conan only looked back for a little while, before his eyes seemed to spark, "Hey, Aoko-neechan. Sadly, I can't accompany you on your hunts any longer, but what would you say, if I teach you some tricks to spot Kid and see through his disguises?"

The offer was so tempting, that Aoko forgot her doubts about Ran's opinion or her own guilt immediately and she quickly answered, "Sure! I would love too!"

The grade-schooler smiled back at her, jumped of the coach and gestured her to follow him, "Then let's start right now. Kobayashi-sensei always says, 'the early bird gets the worm", and with that, he was out of the office and going up the stairs to the living room, Aoko following closely behind him.

* * *

Over the course of the next hour, Conan sat together with Aoko in the living room and lectured her as good as he could on Kid's favourite tricks, preferred escapes and little habits, that he had a hard time hiding. To his surprise Aoko, despite her childish character and behaviour, was a quite flawless student, quick to catch on and to understand. He originally thought he would need a few days, maybe even a week to teach her the important stuff in a manner that was not suspicious, but he found that Aoko was either too dense, which he heavily doubted, or just too unsuspecting to notice his adult manners.

The lessons progressed much faster and when Ran came back up to search for them, after she had finally snapped out of her thoughts, Aoko was already able to list all the likely flaws and little faults in Kid's disguises. To make matters better, Ran found the idea to be ingenious and was quick to offer her help, should the need arise.

"If we can't help her directly, this is the least we should do.", she had stated, before she left the young teacher with his students to continue their studies. This is exactly what they did and only an hour later, Conan was a little bit distressed by actually how fast the inspector's daughter caught on. Granted, he thought her father to be one of the rather smart and capable police inspectors, despite his hot temper, but the abilities of his daughter far outdid what the senior officer could manage.

In this short of a time, Aoko managed to figure out every trick he came up with in a few minutes and even though Conan wasn't particularly gifted in designing tricks, this was remarkable in itself. However, a topic in which the girl seemed to excel at, was most interestingly figuring out how Kid would move, only by looking at the police's information. But in all her ingenuity and quick thinking, Aoko was rash to jump to conclusions, which reminded Conan heavily of his western counterpart, but unlike Hattori, Aoko could not count on her experience to account for that flaw. This led to her often taking things for confirmed, when they were merely the most likely solution, thus disregarding other possibilities and ending up in a dead end. The little teacher was positive that practice and some special lessons devoted to that habit, would help immensely, but for today he could not do anything about it. By the time the clock chimed 6 , Conan could proudly proclaim that Aoko should be able to follow Kid's movements at the next heist, if she would remember the lessons and didn't jump to conclusions.

"I really can't thank you enough for this, Tantei-sensei!", Aoko chimed after she had put her shoes on and was about to leave. This reminded Conan once more of how ridiculous her new nickname for him actually was, but her cheerful face reminded him so heavily of Ran, when she was little, that he did not have the heart to tell her how stupid it sounded. He could only sigh and pretend he didn't hear Ran giggling behind him and wished the other girl a good evening.

After she had closed the door behind her, Conan, probably to used to acting more to his true self thanks to his new job as 'Tantei-sensei', turned around and send a glare towards Ran, who has, now that their guest left, finally stopped to hold back and her chiming laughter echoed throughout the house.

"Tantei- sensei!", she giggled uncontrollably, being unusually childish once again and Conan couldn't help but be reminded of when Ran and Sonoko had dragged him to test new clothes. As horrible and atrocious as the memory was for him, he could clearly recall how cheerful Ran had been through the whole shopping trip. That was till they, once again, practically stumbled over a fresh corpse with a murder investigation in tow. Somehow Aoko managed to break through to Ran's playful and childish site in a quite natural way and Conan had the suspicion that it was due to Ran seeing, what looked like a more cheerful and unconcerned version of herself.

Their resemblance was really extraordinary and, as Conan had observed during their study session, Aoko even moved similarly. Be it this intense gaze both would direct at the object of interest when they were studying or the frown they wore when faced with a hard problem. He was nearly compelled to let Haibara conduct a DNA comparison of the two, but quickly thought better of it. After all, it was not exactly easy to get a hold of a usable sample from both sites and he didn't think the shrunken scientist would appreciate the extra load of work. She had quite enough to do with the antidote alone. Thinking of Haibara, he had still a criminal organisation to catch and so he made his way past the still, awfully delighted Ran and back into the living room, in order to come up with new schemes and plans to catch the Org.

O

Lightly skipping in her step, Aoko even found a whistle escape her lips when she made her way back from Beika to Ekoda. It was a rather long walk, but for some reason Aoko really did want to make it by foot. It would be, after all, good as a small workout and what did her sport's teacher always say, 'light exercise can never hurt'! Not that Aoko was worried over her weight being too high, in fact she was even the lightest one in class, but for some odd reason she took great pride in that fact.

Of course, her walks were not the only reason, why this was the case. If one were to ask others, they would likely blame it on the famous Aokaito-hunts, which always took place during the breaks and which reminded them of a cat hunting after a cheeky dove. Not that those comparisons were true of course! After all, why should Kaito be a dove, when he was more like an annoying parrot, who would always chant the same lousy phrases, he had picked up somewhere. But being compared to a cat wasn't something Aoko minded, since she did like the furry and cute animals a lot. From there on, her mind wandered further to what animal would suit Conan best and by the time she finally settled on some sort of dog, she had already arrived at home.

* * *

"AHOKO!? AHOKO!?", a loud voice boomed through the quiet neighbourhood and startled Aoko out of her sleep, where upon she groggy rubbed her eyes and slightly regretted having gone over her little notebook with Conan's lessons in it again, instead of going to bed last night.

"AHOKO!", the voice, which now rang up from the door, started to annoy Aoko and so she ignored everything and went straight to the stairs, in order to give the rude intruder a piece of her mind.

"BAKAITO!", Aoko roared down the stairs, having recognized the voice when she first heard it, "What is it that you break into my house and bark around like a mad dog?!"

"Break into your house? Mad Dog?", the young magician, standing in the still open door, shoot back, "First, it's not trespassing if you, the owner, has given me a key to use and two, I do not bark. I call you, since you will have to hurry, if you don't want to be late for school!" At that statement, Aoko rushed into the living room, frantically glancing at the clock on the wall and discovering that Kaito did indeed tell the truth.

"HALF PAST 7 O'CLOCK?! Then school starts in 20 minutes!", and with that, the girl bolted back up the stairs, vanishing into her room only to emerge from it 5 minutes later with her clothes put on. It took her another 2-3 minutes till she stood ready for school, her bag in hand and a piece of toast in her mouth, before Kaito, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile?

"My, my," he then said, "are you offering your head to birds as a place to rest?  
Aoko only shoot him a withering glare, knowing fully that he was referring to her tousled hairs, which must look even more deranged than they normally did. Deming his remark unworthy of an answer, she walked past him and made a gesture, which indicated him to hurry if they didn't want to be late. Kaito only sighed at that, but once again turned to face the door. Aoko was going to ask him what he was doing, but before she had the chance, her childhood friend had already produced a key from seemingly thin air and used it to lock the door.

O

"I know we are a bit late, but that's no reason to invite thieves into your house.", he said, silently dreading the irony in the statement, while he remembered how often she had already asked him to come in. But being the great deceiver, he was, none of his emotions showed in his face, where only the usual cocky grin was visible, when he caught up to Aoko, who had already started ahead. He knew, they had to hurry a bit, but this didn't prevent them from their usual bickering, which was well known in their neighbourhood.

* * *

"Did something good happen to you?"  
Aoko was slightly caught off guard by that questions, especially since he only asked it now during lunch break and not earlier, when they were alone. However, she did not know what he was referring to and so she asked, "Something good?"  
Judging by how Kaito started to explain, he had understood that she had no clue what he was referring to, "You are a bit distracted and lost in thoughts today, but whenever you are, it seems to make you smile. I would guess that you were thinking of your boyfriend, if we were talking of somebody else."

She only scowled back at him for that comment, "Where did that come from? But nevermind, in fact I did have a wonderful day yesterday and I just remembered all the good things that I learned."

"Good things you learned? Let's see…" he cast an observing glance at her, which made Aoko slightly uncomfortable, "No, your boobs are still as flat as ever, so it can't be that..."

For the rest of the break, the remaining student's had to duck out of the way as to not get hit by Aoko's mob swinging when she chased Kaito through the school.

* * *

"That's all your fault!" Aoko stated grudgingly, "If you had not teased me back then, we would never have been damned to clean the windows!"

"Oh, so it's my fault now, that you can't control your temper?" the magician shoot back, while he wrung the wet sponge, with which he had scrubbed the glass panes.

"Just so you know, I am very capable of controlling my temper, but all the effort would be wasted on you!" Aoko scoffed back, turning back to her window and started to whip it clean.

"Yeah sure, then what was that story last week with the broken door handle? Did you deem it unworthy of your effort too?" Kaito teased with a taunting grin on his face, "If so, I am truly confused as to why you have yet to break somebody's bones."

"You know as well as I do, that this was an accident! It was just stuck to tightly!", she shoot back, not even turning her head.

And similarly, a lousy "Yeah, yeah." was all she got in response.

And with that comment, silence fell upon the classroom, only disrupted by the continuous scrubbing sound of the two sponges. But it was not an awkward silence, since both had a task at hand and things to think over. And so, they wiped on, moving in an automatic manner, leaving their minds to wander off, thinking of their problems and troubles.

In Kaito's case, he was determined to make a huge comeback after his extended break, due to the leg injury which had to heal properly. But while he was still musing on about whether or not he should impersonate Nakamori and disguise the officer in his own garment, Aoko had her mind set on finding a pattern in Kid's actions and movements. She had already come up with a fairly good concept for how he would act, when she managed to close in on him, but the way of getting there was what troubled her. After all, it could always be a dummy or Kid would just escape out of her sight with a flash or a smoke bomb, so she had to come up with a way of predicting his movements. But till now, she could not see a way to reliably foresee his steps and actions. That was something Conan couldn't teach her, since he himself often found himself reacting to the thief's action, instead of interrupting them.

"The key to catching Kaitou Kid is not to follow him, but to wait for him. If you have to follow, he can lead you to wherever he wants, but if you wait for him, he has no control over where he faces you."

That was, what Conan had said to her and what he declared as being the most important thing: Don't follow the thief's plan. Yet as simple as it sounded, as hard was it to actually force the thief to alter his plans and schemes.

" _It's like trying to prevent a magician from doing his next trick._ " Aoko mused to herself, when suddenly the true meaning of this comparison became clear to her.

 _"A magic show! Of course, a Kid heist is no different from a very elaborate and complicated magic show!"_

This was it! If she knew how to defeat a showman, she could pin down Kid and for that, she had to understand how a magician structures his show, "KAITO!"

When his name was called, the high-schooler only turned his head lazily, with a somewhat annoyed frown on his face. He probably meant to ask what it was now, but Aoko beat him to it.

"Kaito! How do you ruin a magic show?" she screamed in his face, after she had launched herself through half of the room, only to nearly pin him to the wall.

"Wha...? Aoko, what the heck is wrong with you?" he started again, but Aoko was not patient enough to deal with their usual quarreling, so she opted for a quick response "Probably a lot! So how do you ruin a magic show?"

"Why do you want to know THAT?", Kaito questioned, an eyebrow now vanishing under his tousled fringe of hair  
But Aoko was quick to answer, "Because I want to ruin a magic show"

He only stared at her for a few seconds, recognizing in the determined burning in her eyes, that she would not back down till she got her answer. Sighing loudly, he conceded, whereas Aoko stepped back a little to give him some room.

"First of, what do you mean by "Ruining"? Do you mean what you could do to ruin the show for yourself or others? Or do you mean what mistakes a magician makes, which ruin the show?" the young magician asked in order to clarify things.  
"Just, what makes a show bad?" Aoko only answered, not knowing herself what she was getting at.

"Okay, . . . there are a lot of things that can go wrong. For example, if you have no audience or you can't do the tricks, but I assume you're not asking about such things?" Kaito stated, sending her an inquiring glance. Aoko only nodded a bit hesitantly, which Kaito took as a sign to continue his monologue.

"Assuming you know your tricks, there are no technical problems, your audience is attentive and nobody sabotages the show, then the most likely thing to go wrong is the illusion of the show!"

"The illusion?" Aoko asked, tilting her head slightly, which reminded Kaito of a cute, little kitty. But he quickly shoved those thoughts aside and started to elaborate, "A magician has to make the audience believe, that what they see is magic. If you sit in a show, with the absolute confidence that everything is just smoke and mirrors, then you will not enjoy the show. So, if the magician doesn't manage to convince you of his magic, let's say he openly confirms that it's just a trick and no real magic, then the audience will not be astounded."

"But everybody, aside from little kids, does know that real magic doesn't exist!" Aoko objected.  
"Yes, they do know, but not consciously. It's similar to the question what colour the sky is. If you ask a person this question, they will answer blue, not because they actively looked at the sky, but because they know this. However, if you don't ask them that question, they will not suddenly think, 'Oh right, the sky is blue.' It's similar with the tricks, if you would ask them how it works, they would say something like 'probably with some wires' and would start to think of a logical explanation, but if you don't ask them, they should not start ask to themselves how it works. If a magician manages to do that, then it will probably be a good show."

"I see but aren't there cases when the audience ruins the show?"  
"Yes, but that mostly just a few individuals in the audience. You see, a magician may look like the incarnation of confidence and calmness, but every showman is nervous when he stands on the stage. This is another illusion, the illusion that nothing can shake him. If your poker face falters or you lose your composure, the audience will know that you are not in full control and they will lose respect, the same respect which prevents them from questioning your tricks. So, if somebody manages to trash your whole show only by shouting, then he managed to expose you to your audience in a way that let's them doubt your abilities. You must never let that happen, always keep your poker face in place and never let failure or doubt show." Kaito ended his explanation, looking straight at Aoko, before he spoke up once more, "But what magic show do you want to ruin? One of mine? What have I done to deserve that?"

The sudden change from his deep and charming narrator voice to the usual teasingly tones caught Aoko by surprise, "What? Oh . . . no, I don't want to trash one of your shows . . . it's just that . . . you know . . . there is Kaitou Kid . . ."  
Kaito only stared at her a bit puzzled before he muttered a knowing 'oh' and turned back to the windows, "If you want to know how to stop Kaitou Kid, you could have told me from the beginning"

Luckily, Aoko had expected a retort like that and so she had an answer ready, "I thought it would be better to look at the basics and from there move upwards to the more advanced stuff. After all, Kid's heists are essentially just a special magic show."

"Move upwards to the more advanced stuff? You are talking like he and his heist are some kind of study subject. You know it's not that easy, right?" the male teen inquired, his voice clearly tainted in skepticism.

"Ohh" Kaito lifted his brows, "You're getting serious with this, has the last heist spark something in you."  
Aoko could not help but frown, when she remember that horrible incidence, but he was right when he suspected that this heist was the reason why she did all this, "Indeed it has. I always thought Kid's heist were a safe place and nobody would get hurt. But the last heist showed me, that this is not true. I don't want to see any more people getting hurt, so I have to end all of this, by capturing Kid!"

The level of seriousness and conviction in her voice surprised Kaito, "What has happened? You were never that set on helping people before, so why now?" he asked, but if he was frank with himself, he knew the answer.

" _Idiot, who got himself shot last time and is very dear to Aoko? You yourself!_ " he scolded in his head, but not uttering a word about it. Acknowledging Aoko's fears would also mean, that he had to try to convince her off how dangerous the whole thing was and if he did that, Aoko's stubbornness would only lead to her charging ahead even faster. So instead of continuing their serious conversation, he tried to lighten the mood, "Have you finally fallen for Kid and are now worried over your darling's life?"

This comment immediately set Aoko back to being blazingly furious, rather than that smouldering, depressing rage from before, "As if that could ever happen!" and with that, her sponge smacked against the window, just where Kaito's head had been a second ago.

For the rest of their afternoon cleaning duty, they stayed on happier and lighter topics, both avoiding to even mention the last heist or Kid any further. But when they went home and finally separated in front of their houses, both their minds were again back on the problem.

" _I will not let Aoko get near those guys ever again and I for sure can't let her catch me. In the end, Kid has to die together with Pandora!_ "

" _I will not let Kaito or anybody else get hurt again. It will end, when I capture Kaitou Kid and all of those guys in black!_ "

* * *

Sorry for the incredibly long wait, but life has not been kind to me those past months. I hope I can upload the next chapter sooner, but I do not want to promise anything. Just be assured that I won't abandon this project, without telling you exactly why and till now I have no reason to do so.

 _All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment._

 _Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part._

 _Hope you liked the chapter and till next time._

 _Farewell_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sometimes Aoko wondered, whether the Kaito Kid fans recorded their cheering once and then just play it at any future heist to safe stamina and breath. This would at least explain why she always had such a strong sense of Deja Vue, whenever she entered the building, which Kid choose for his next location.

Squeezing herself through the cheering crowd, earning her a few annoyed grunts from the chanting bulk of humans, she slowly but steadily made her way to the door of the big skyscraper, which featured a big purple amethyst in a jewel's exhibition on the upper floors. After a lot of shoving and pushing, she finally reached the line of policeman, which payed careful attention to who could enter and who not, since this heist was only open for a small circle of people, who either had a hand in the exhibition or the planed capture of the elusive thief. Aoko obviously belonged to the later and that was only the case, because her father was the leading inspector or else, she would probably have to stay out and watch from the ground like most of Kid's dedicated fans. This had yet to happen, but the girl was not very keen on making this experience, especially since she would probably get lynched if the fans got wind of how much she despised their great idol.

" _Idol of what exactly_ ", Aoko asked herself not for the first time.  
She had often pondered over why the people loved the burgling showman that much and, while she could find reason to enjoy his heist or support his fight against the evil snobs of society, she had yet to come up with something, which could be idolized about the stealing part of his shows. But pondering over this question has never brought her to an answer and so she pushed the thoughts away and recalled Conan's lessons on 'How to catch Kaitou Kid'.

During her whole elevator ride, a strange silence has followed her, undoubtably explainable by the complete absence of any people in the whole building, what seemed kind of strange, considering what would happen her in a little less than an hour.

" _Are they completely concentrating their forces on the exhibition room?_ " Aoko mused, coming to the conclusion that this was the most probable answer and when the elevator finally opened with a ping, her guess was confirmed by the crowed floor. Once again, she had so push and squeeze herself through the crowd, till she finally arrived at the closed off area in which a glass case was standing and a few well-known faces argued over security measures.

"I'm telling you, Kid will come through the ventilation shaft! There is no other way for him to come, because the windows are made of bulletproof glass!", Kogouro Mouri, the famous sleeping detective, bellowed at Jirokichi Suzuki, obviously not agreeing with the others opinion.

But true to his hot temper, the Suzuki advisor shoot back, "The air vents are secured with welded screws and observed by motion detectors, there is no way he can enter there. So, he has to shatter the glass to get inside the building."  
Aoko, who only quickly greeted her father, Ran and Conan, which all stood near the two arguing hot heads with a bit annoyed expressions, listened to the screaming contest for a couple of minutes, while taking in all the details of the security measures, which the two roared out for the whole world to hear " _If Kid was already here, this would be like a free card to take the jewel_ ", she mused.

It took her a second to really understand the terrible possibility, which her wild guess introduced. 'IF Kid was here' meant that nobody knew where he was and since Aoko just heard, that neither window nor air vents were easily accessible, the possibility of him slipping through an unguarded fire exit and then come strolling inside the exhibition room, hiding behind one of his near perfect disguises, seemed even more likely. She nearly whipped her head around to scan the room for suspicious persons, but remembered one of Conan's advises in time.

"As much as you look for Kid, Kid looks for you. If he gets the feeling that you suspect something, he will be extra careful. So, don't show any signs of what you are thinking or you might alarm him to something you haven't even thought off."

It took a lot of self-control for her, who never bother to conceal her emotions, to mask her intense concentration and look around the room with a neutral and slightly bored expression and at first she didn't spot anything noteworthy, but then her eyes landed on an old man.

He was clearly rich and wealthy, though his best days were over. Nonetheless his suit fitted him perfectly and was definitely not used all that often, so that it must have been made recently, but it still did not fit him completely, which indicated that it wasn't from one of the high end shops and the measurements hadn't been taken carefully enough. And now that she looked more closely, there were other irritating things about him, one of which was the tone of his skin, just where the throat came forth to the chin. The skin there was slightly darker and that was not just because of the lighting. Also, his cheeks seemed to be pale, even though he had obviously drunken more than a bit of alcoholic beverage, which was proven by the near empty glass in his hands. On top of that, all the people in the room along with the low running air ventilation, raised the air temperature by quite a bit and everybody around her had rosy cheeks along with occasional sweat drops on some faces. All but this old geezer, who laughed and joke as much as anybody else did.

O

The evening hasn't been going all that well for Conan so far. The mass of people annoyed him, blocking most of his view with their bodies, not to mention that the air down at his height wasn't particularly pleasant, thanks to the various sorts of body odours, along with the uncountable mass of different parfums. To top it all off, he had yet to find a clue on what Kid was planning, since neither the exhibition case, nor the police officer did reveal any unusual sights, when he had inspected them. He had been trying to spot any suspicious-looking persons, but thanks to the social stand of this gathering, nearly everybody had at least some sort of make up on, which made it impossible for him to find the thief thanks to his makeup.

Letting a sigh slip, he resigned himself to not being able to do much, till the thief would arrive, since Ran didn't let him wander off anymore and so he could not go and look for unscrewed air vents or misplaced object, which might give a clue on the thief's plan. But when he let his gaze wandered over the people around him once again, he caught sight of a concentrated looking Aoko, who seemed to stare at somebody. He quickly made his way over to her, torn between scolding her for losing her poker face again and asking her what was so damn interesting. He just hoped it wasn't some famous actor or anything alike.

But his hopes where not disappointed, when he halted right beside her and followed her gaze to spot an old, yet still immensely cheerful man. From the sight of it, he had the time of his life, chattering and joking with the people around him, which was an interesting sight, but not one that would require this stern frown, which Aoko wore at the time. He hesitated a bit, probably out of detective pride to ask for the solution rather than uncover it himself, before he tugged at her long dress, which did not expose much skin at all, to get her attention.

He was slightly startled, when she visibly jumped from this, since he did not quite understand her intense concentration on this plainly looking old men, so he put on the 'curious child' face and asked in a high voice, with a bit of a sing sang in it, "Aoko-neechan!? What are you looking at?"

The girl in question immediately squatted down, apparently completely obvious to what she was wearing and if the dress had been just a bit shorter, Conan would have had a hard time keeping a blush from getting on his face, "Oh, I was just wondering over the man with the heavy makeup.", she told him, before his thoughts could wander further.

Bewildered, Conan looked over to the cheerful group, to which he had followed Aoko's gaze and his confusion grew even more, when he was not able to spot anybody, not even a woman, with overly heavy makeup.  
Confused he turned back to Aoko "Heavy makeup?"

"Yes"

Starting to doubt his or the girl's sanity, Conan focused the group again, yet with the same conclusion as before "There is nobody wearing heavy makeup."

"Of course there is.", the girls just answered, a little frown on her face.

"In that group over there?", Conan asked, pointing towards the group.

"Yes", Aoko confirmed a little confused "You do see him right?", and with that, she squatted down even further, apparently trying to see whether something was blocking the boys view.

"I'm afraid, I don't see who you mean", Conan told her, now questioning, if he had overestimated the girls abilities.

"Really?" Aoko breathed, confusion written all over her face, as if Conan was not seeing the elephant in the room, "But, that old man over there, don't you see him?"

Once again, Conan had to look at the old geezer, who for some reason started to annoy him, but he ignored it and asked his go-detective once again"The one who is chatting and joking?"

"Yes.", was Aoko's short, yet precise answer

"The one, who is holding a glass of sect?"Conan inquired, making absolutely sure not to look at the wrong person.  
"I didn't know it was sect, but yes." Aoko confesses.

But instead lightening the mood, the young sleuth could only grow even more confused, "The one with the small white moustache and the bald patch?" he made sure once again.

And the confirmation came again from the Inspectors daughter, "Yes, that one!"

Conan stared intently, "Where the heck do you see any make up on him?"

At that comment, Aoko's face turned to a thoughtful frown and before Conan could ask her what was going on in her head, she had already snatched his glasses away and put them on herself.

"HEY!" Conan ejaculated, louder than he had intended, but thanks to the constant chatting, nobody paid it any attention, "Give those back!" He tried to grab the spectacles out of Aoko's grasp, but the girl had already stood up and was now squinted through the lenses at the elder.

"Strange, I see no correction at all.", she muttered, which made Conan sweat drop and double his effort to get her to give the glasses back.

"Aoko-neechan", he now pledged, but before he was forced to throw a tantrum, the (physically) older girl dropped down once again and put the glasses back on his nose.

"Here you go", she said and bopped his nose with a cheerful smile.

"But you should check your prescription. No wonder you didn't see the makeup, when your glasses don't change anything.", she muttered and Conan was quick to divert her attention, before she got the bright idea to tell Ran about it.  
"Then tell me, how can you tell that he is wearing heavy makeup." Conan demanded, regretting it a little when he saw how Aoko grinned back and chimed, "But of course, Conan-sensei!"

And with that, she leaped into her explanation "If you look just below his jaw, you can see that the colour is too dark there to just stem from shadow, so they come from the pigments of the makeup. You see, makeup never dries 100%, so it will always rub off. So, if you speak or move your head, the skin will fold in those regions and the makeup will rub off and so the colour will gather where the skin folds the most."

Even though, Conan could not see the apparently, darker colour, the reasoning did sound plausible to him and so he paid close attention when Aoko continued.

"Also, if you look at his face directly, you will see that it is rather pale, but a man, who is so vigorously chatting and laughing, in a warm room and drinking alcohol, would inevitably stimulate his blood flow, thus flushing his face or at least his noses and cheeks a little. But since this is not the case, we are not seeing his real skin!", she ended, openly displaying her pride over having been able to explain something to her mentor. Conan was obviously pretty dumbfounded at that, since he had never expected the girl to give him such a detailed observation and deduction, but aside from some unlikely medical conditions, he could find no severe flaw in her argument.

o

Turning her head away from her little mentor, who looked like a deer in the head lights, Aoko shifted her attention back to the guest, who had caught her attention and she was not all that surprised when he even started to do something that looked a lot like dancing. But the very interesting wobbling and flailing of his limbs was interrupted when the crowed started to count down.

"Twenty. Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen.", they chanted, looking around in the room or staring at their watches.  
"Sixteen. Fifteen. Fourteen. Thirteen.", they continued and Aoko realized that Kid's grand entrance is soon to come. She looked back for a moment at the purple amethyst, safely lying on his silk cushion under the dome of glass, before she looked back at her Kid suspect.

"Twelve. Eleven. Teen. Nine."

He seemed to look around in the room, hoping to spot the thief ahead of time like everybody else did. However, something in the way his scanned over the crowd made her suspicious and when his eyes landed on her, she felt like they blasted right through her bored and calm facade, which she managed to keep up till now and what surprised herself most of all.

"Eight. Seven."

His eyes, a cold blue like the shine of moonlight falling through a sapphire, wandered up to her face where they meet Aoko's eyes.

"Six. Five."

Slowly, very slowly, a grin started to spread on his face and Aoko could clearly see how the dried paint started to lightly crack on his cheeks.

"Four."

The grin had now widened so far, that small flocks of flesh coloured and dried paint fell from his face, not withstanding the stretching and folding of the skin underneath.

"Three."

He just looked at her, eyes gleaming with some mixture of curiosity and anticipation. It reminded Aoko heavily of Kaito, when she challenged him to a magic duel, back when they were still toddlers. Of course, he had always won and most of the time is was not even close, but despite that, they both enjoyed showing of their skills and what they've learned to their best friend.

"Two."

Those moments before every challenge, when their eyes would meet and when they would grin at each other, were the reason why she continued practicing magic, despite her mom's sudden death, which hit her far deeper than she ever thought she could feel. But when Kaito's father died too, she could not muster the strength to pick up the magic again. Every coin that she made vanish, was like losing her mother again and every card she made appear, brought back the image of a heart-broken, little Kaito.

"One."

But even though magic reminded her heavily off what she has lost and showed her what she still could lose, those small memories of joy and play still brought back the same grin from over 10 years ago and right now, she could feel herself directing it at Kid. A smirk full of confidence, agitation, challenge and anticipation.

"ZERO!"

The last number was his signal, the now reigning darkness was his curtain, this night was his stage and true to his nature, he followed its call.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN", his loud voice announced his presents and the darkness vanished with just a little tap on the same button, which had brought it over the building only a few seconds ago. He really loved black outs!  
All eyes now shoot up and glued themselves on the whiteness of his tuxedo, cape and hat, taking in the glorious sight the magician always displayed, when he stood out against the dark of the night sky, illuminated by moon light. This was the right moment at the exact time and the precise location.

This was his showtime!

"KID!", Nakamori's loud bellow was the first sound the crowd made, followed by a mixture of 'Ohh's, cheerings and curses, all mixing together in Aoko's ears, as she looked at the magician. The old man was gone, but since Kid had appeared, nobody would notice anyway and only later the people would recognize who they've really talked to.

But whisking that though aside as quickly as it came, Aoko concentrated back on the scene around here, her eyes picking out strange things, like they often had done, but this time, she knew how they could be related to the heist.

" _A thin, barely sparkling thread at the right side of Kid, possibly to drag something up or help bringing something down, most likely it will be Kid himself. He just put something back in his pocket, when he made his bow. Looked like a little remote. Must be connected to the black out_.", her mind began to ratter down just the way Conan had taught her, and she was amazed over how easy it seemed to be.

But this train of thought suddenly ended, when Kid leaned over the edge, spreading his arms and then started to fall. His body accelerated as it rushed straight at the floor of the museum, but instead of a scream, he began to laugh and just before he hit the ground, he stopped. Aoko knew that this would happen. She has seen the thread has guessed its purpose, but she was still amazed over the thief's body control, since he made it seem as if he landed on invincible ground, masking the swaying of the thread with what appeared to be little dance steps, as if to show off that there really was something where he stood. The crowed just stared at him, all to stunned to either cheer or curse, at least till her dad caught himself.

"GET HIM", he roared, and the police officers sprang instantly at the thief, who was still hanging from his thread. But since this command was so simple, Aoko knew Kid must have expected it and thus was not surprised when his grin widened and smoke eloped him and the task force officers.

It took not long to clear up and Aoko had used that time to climb up a few steps of the stair, giving her a better view over the situation and a little head start, when she had to either move up or down. She knew she could not catch Kid by throwing herself at him along with the other police officers. Even though she constantly trained catching somebody by chasing Kaito, she doubted that she could corner the thief, not to mention the policemen, who would likely just get in her way. No, if she wanted to get a hold of the magician, she had to catch him off-guard and that was best done, by waiting for him to come to her. What did Conan teach her?

"The key to catching Kaitou Kid is not to follow him, but to wait for him. If you have to follow, he can lead you to wherever he wants, but if you wait for him, he has no control over where he faces you." With that conviction, she began to think of a plan, while she watched as the smoke revealed a pack of tightly tide-together task force members with a grinning Kid next to them.

O

Kaito did not know, what was wrong today. The location was great, the sky clear, the moon bright, the gem big, the guys in black nowhere to be found and, aside from Hakuba, all his critics were gathered and had already did a really good job in figuring out his disguise. But despite all of this, today's heist was dull.

He would need to give the police more time to plan, so they could come up with something new, instead of flinging themselves at him. But even if they prepared a cage, cast the gem in bullet prove glass or attached it to an elephant, the really spicing was still missing. Namely, that none of his critics were doing anything. Tantei-kun was just standing there, shaking his head and sighing, but Kid could not tell, if the Task force or his tricks were the reason for this.

It did not suit the little sleuth to just stand there, but at least he had not just vanished, like Aoko did. He had last seen her, when she smirked back at him and, in Pandora's god forsaken name, that had surprised him. He nearly missed his timing out of sheer anticipation, with what she had come up, to send him such a grin, but now that she vanished, he was kind of disappointed. Concluding that his mood and his tricks won't get any better, he prepared for his great act of disappearance, namely climbing up the invincible stairs to the roof and then plunging to his apparent death down into the crowd of his faithful fans.

"I regret that our joyful gathering must end so soon, but unfortunately I have an important appointment and must leave now.",Kid explained, covering the act of attaching the still hanging threat back to his body, he then initiated the wind up and began to step up on thin air, earning himself a deafening applause. But just when he was half way up the roof, something unexpected happened, namely that he suddenly stopped. Unwilling to reveal the technical difficulties, Kid started to spin together some nonsense about being torn between staying, thanks to his fans earnest cheering, or leaving, because little children all around the world would be exposed to Nakamori's questionable vocabulary the longer he stayed. But under his mask of showmanship, he wanted to curse.

He had inspected the winch just before his heist, has oiled and recharged it, made sure that the threat could not get stuck at anything up there, but despite all of this, the machine did betray him. Tempted to throw it out on the street, once he got back, he suddenly became aware of a soft beeping. It was unmistakably a warning signal and it only took him a moment longer to know exactly what it was: it was the winch signalling that something was blocking it. Casting a quick look down, he assured himself that nobody had attached anything else to the threat, which only left the possibility that the machine itself has been tampered with. So, now that his get-away-plan A failed, he had to resort to plan B.

"In honour of your unwavering support, I have decided to show you one last trick for today!" he announced playfully, detaching himself from the hooks and falling back toward the ground, but this time, he didn't stop mid-air.  
This time he crashed down on the ground and dispersed in a flurry of white sparks, leaving nothing behind, but his hat, who know rested on the exhibition case. All eyes stared at it and Nakamori, as he slowly lifted it up, revealing a card placed underneath.

O

"I have taken the Earl's Pride", Nakamori read out aloud, crushing the piece of paper in his hands once he saw the little signature and that the jewel was indeed gone.

"When? When did he take it?" Nakamori roared, only to hear a child's voice speak up.

"He took it straight at the beginning. Just after he tied up your men." Conan spoke, his voice sounding reproachful as he approached the inspector.

"Then where is he now?", Nakamori demanded, still screaming, but Conan seemed unimpressed even though some drops of saliva landed on his glasses. Taking them off and cleaning them with a handkerchief, he offered "He disguised and ran up the stairs, while everybody was staring at his dispersing cape."

"WHAT?!" Nakamori roared again, following up with a quick order, to immediately go to the roof. But as soon as the first of the task force tried to rush up the stairs, he immediately slipped and fell back down.

"What are you guys doing?" Nakamori scolded them, now rushing up the stairs himself, but slipping as well and crashing back down to the floor.

"It seems Kid has covered the steps with oil, sir." One of the officers reported and judging from his face, he knew exactly what that meant for them.

"OK, all of you, go up the stairs carefully! And even if it takes years, don't let Kid get away." The inspectors loud voice commanded once again, and Conan could not help but face palm, thinking "Why do you even try to go up? Only to see him fly away again?"

O

Hearing the curses, sounds of people slipping and screams when they landed on the floor would normally have prompted Kaito to one of his obnoxious smiles along with a snarky comment, however, thanks to the unexplainable malfunction of his winch, he was too irritated to care for that right now. He had not seen anybody going to the roof and that meant, that only somebody from outside of the room could be the culprit and that pointed to a bunch of black clothes guys, who he was absolutely not looking forward to meet.

Bracing himself for their, as he told himself, ugly sight, he swung open the door, already glaring at whatever his eyes would see. But to his surprise, no portly man with his moustache formed to look like a horse has just kicked him in the face and his ridiculous black trench coat, who made him look more like a creep than a gangster, stood on the roof, awaiting him with this cocky grin. Instead, he spotted what appeared to be a moon goddess. Illuminated by the white light of the silver eye in the sky, surrounded by the twinkles of a thousand of stars, her hair, shimmering like threats of pure silver in the moonlight, was swaying softly in the wind and seemed to dance to her humming.

It was only soft, barely louder than the raging wind on the rooftop and yet, Kaito could hear every note clearly. The melody was sad, but hopeful at the same time and above all else, it reminded Kaito of long-lost dreams, wished to be true once again. He was tempted to close his eyes and just listen to the sweet humming, but he knew this was a luxury he could not afford. So, he started to approach her. Silently, like a true thief, he approached her and stopped only a few feet away from her, deliberately stepping down hard on the ground, so she would notice his presence. Ready to follow one of the countless plans, he has constructed in this short of a time, he waited, looking at her slender frame twirling in what must be surprise. But once she has turned completely his surprise did match hers and they both just stared at each other for a moment.

Blue eyes reflecting in blue eyes and just like that, Kaito was caught in the endless blue once again.

O

"KIIIID" Aoko yelp as she had found the thief standing behind her, staring at her face with an expression of sheer disbelief.

What are you doing here?!", she shrieked while she jumped away from him, which finally broke his inmoving face, turning it in a hurt but mocking scowl. The expression was so unsuitable for his gentlemen-thief persona that Aoko doubted for a quick second that she was looking at the real Kaitou Kid and not some imposter.

"Ao. . . Nakamori-san, I should be the one directing this question at you! I hoped to find a calm and beautiful night up here, but I only discover that one Nakamori clinging to my tail is apparently not enough.", he huffed in response, his face now morphing into an offended expression, but for some odd reason it still didn't look like Kid.

"Clinging to your tail?! I was clearly here before you!", Aoko exclaimed, her temper now flaring up and causing her blood to boil.

"Oh, were you really?", Kid asked, clearly mocking her "If that were the case, who do you suppose prepared the winch, which you mutilated so shamelessly?"

The whining tone of his voice made it sound as though he was talking about a puppy, making Aoko forget everything about the valid point of his argument "Mutilated?! I merely jammed a pipe in the winch drum."

But the thief did continue to press his point "If I were to viciously jam a crude pipe between a poor, small doggy's legs, wouldn't that cause it to fall and injure itself gravely? What makes you think, the same couldn't happen to my poor, old winch?", he asked her, his face a mask of pity and sympathy.

"How is your winch supposed to fall down, when it doesn't even stand, let alone walks? Besides, isn't it cruel to use it at all? I mean, it's at least 50 years old, judging from the looks." Aoko debated, eyeing the strangely curved spokes and all the dents and scratches. Only the wire, which Kid used, didn't look like it was out of some 1910 silent film.

"Excuse me, but I didn't know we were supposed to grant winches a rent!", he answered her, his arms crossed and a scowling expression on his face. Nearly Aoko would have called him 'Bakaito', since this argument reminded her a lot of their usual squabbles, but before the words slipped out of her mouth, she caught herself and could only stare at the magician.

Now that she had stopped concentrating on the argument, she realized how close the thief was to her. Thanks to the shadow of his hat's rim, she could still not make out his face, but his build and posture did not correspond at all with that of a man in his 30s. At least, that would have been Kid's estimated age, but the man or rather boy before her, held himself with the energy of youth, his body not fully developed yet, but still enough muscles for the breath-taking acrobatics he did.

Aoko noticed all of this, thanks to the observation training she did with Conan, where they would just sit in a coffee shop and he would ask her questions about the people passing by. 'How old is she?' or 'What is he doing?' were questions he only asked her right at the beginning, but from there they quickly went to deducing the employment or recent events which caused some sort of change in the people's behaviour.

Aoko was exceptionally surprised, when Conan could identify a retired US army soldier and where he last served, only by observing the way he moved and spotting his walking cane along with the difference in skin colour from his hands to his lower arms.

"The fact, that he is a foreigner is clearly show by how he looks. His way of walking is strict and drilled, so he served in some sort of army unite. However, his walking cane shows that he is no longer on duty, but you can still see the army haircut, so he has only come back recently. If we now take his tanned hands into consideration, we know he was somewhere with a lot of sun. Along with the English tour book he is holding, which he bought with US dollars according to the price tag, this means that he has served for the US army. And currently, the only place where you can get shot and are in the sun is the Sudan." he had explained.

Of course Aoko was not able to replicate such an accurate deduction, but she still learned the differences between how woman and men or old and young move. And what she had learned, told her clearly that Kaitou Kid was around 21 at most. She was just about to continue pondering when something was tossed over at her and she could barely catch the big purple jewel. Irritated, she raised her gaze, only to see the thief stand at the edge of the building and the winch gone to god-knows-where.

"It was charming chatting with you Nakamori-san." Kid thanked her, his voice, face and posture now completely fallen back to the professional gentleman-thief mask, he usually wore, "I applaud your abilities to block my way of escape and corner me, but I would advise you to not just space out, when you are in company of a true gentleman. This is a rare honor after all!" And with that, he let himself fall gracefully, disappearing over the edge of the building just when inspector Nakamori set his foot on the roof.

* * *

What the heck was wrong with him, was the only question Kaito was capable of asking himself. Not only did he risk getting caught at what might looked like flirting with inspector Nakamori's daughter, no, he practically unmasked himself in front of Aoko!

" _If I were to viciously jam a crude pipe between a poor, small doggy's legs . . ._ ", what the bloody hell did he think when he uttered this nonsense?! Not only, did it absolutely not fit the charming and always cool Kid persona, especially considering all the scowls and frowns he projected on his face, but it was also that kind of rubbish, which Kaito Kuroba would sputter, when he teases Aoko!

Throwing his cape and hat on the floor, he stormed out of the hidden room and he marched straight to the bathroom, splashing his face with ice-cold water. Not once, not twice, but more than he cared to count, so it was not that surprising when his blue suit got wet as well from all the splashing. Now, that he had calmed down a bit, all rage and fury has left him, only leaving behind bitter frustration and self-reproaches. His muscle slumped and he lazily leaned on the edge of the sink, his stretched arms carrying the full weight of his slouched upper body, head hanging down with droplets of water slowly wandering down his wet strains of hair.

"What have I've been thinking?", he could only wonder once again, not finding a answer that even remotely explained today's slip up.

No, screw that.

It was no mere slip up, it was a full blown malperformance, a catastrophe!

He could actually consider himself lucky, if Aoko didn't start to suspect him as well. At least, Hakuba has gone back to Britain for some reason Kaito didn't care to remember, so Aoko had no person, in which she could confide her suspicions, but he still considered not showing up tomorrow or even for the rest of the week, so Aoko would not be reminded of his existence. With a sudden jerk, he straightened himself, only to slump again in the next moment, running a hand through his wet hair.

"No, it will be even more suspicious, if I don't show up. I just have to pretend, that I know of nothing to dispel her suspicions.", but as soon as he has voiced that plan, he already knew of the immense risk it brought with it. If he acted like his usual self, he would remind Aoko of Kid, which could bring her to connecting Kid with Kaito. On the other hand, if he did not behave like usual and Aoko already had her doubts about him, then he would only further strengthen the points against him, effectively digging his own grave.

Trudging, he made his way back to his room, where he shortly bothered to change out of clothes and into his pyjama, before he fell sloppy down on his bed. His brain was tired, his eyes hurt and his whole body seemed like it was suddenly made out of stone, heavy and unmoving.

"What have I done to offend my dear Goddess of Fortune that much?", he weakly asked in the dark room, not expecting an answer and not receiving one. A good and long night's sleep was what he needed now, not only for his body, but also for his mind to process today's shock and frustration.

But before he let himself succumb to the sweet promises of dreamland, he forced himself to rethink today's event. He once again saw Aoko, looking at him with a thoughtful expression, most likely trying to think of why Kid reminded her so heavily of somebody. He remembered her figure, illuminated by moonlight and the soft humming of her voice in the dark night. Then, there was her stare, which she shot him when he was about to descended from the roof to make his Grand Entrance. And finally, there was her smirk.

This widely stretched grin, brimming with anticipation and challenge. The way her eyes seemed to spark, as she practically dared him to go up against her tonight. He didn't know what it was, that gave her back this much determination and motivation to catch him, but in this moment, he was unable to further dwell on the problem, since his eyes have shut and he has drifted off to sleep, still seeing her challenging smile directed at him.

* * *

 _All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment._

 _Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part._

 _Hope you liked the chapter and till next time._

 _Farewell_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The day was wonderful.

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, classes lasted only till noon and her smile this morning was as bright as ever.

And exactly that was what irritated Kaito so much, the day was just too perfect.

After his horrible meeting with Aoko last night on the roof, he had thought her to be thoughtful, maybe even suspicious, but surely, he did not imagine that she would behave even more cheerful than normal.

If Kaito didn't know any better, he would have guessed her to have met an old friend last night and now she was still enjoying the fresh memories. But since she was at the heist for the whole evening and undoubtedly went to bed afterwords, since she did not appear to be tired today, it was impossible for her to have met anybody.

Besides, as far as he knew, she was always on friendly terms with everybody, but did not have that many close friends and none of them lived far away or anything alike.

So, Kaito was perfectly certain that, whatever had caused her unusual and bubbly cheerfulness, must have happened at the heist, but he had no idea what it might be.

Wrecking his mind to come up with anything, Kaito's train of thought was briskly interrupted when the back of a textbook was whacked against his forehead. It was not harsh, even gently in a way, but nonetheless he scowled up at the person standing in front of him, who still held the book in their grasp.

"What is it, Ahoko?", he asked, his voice portraying annoyance and boredom, but his mind ran on overdrive, looking for every tiny twitch of muscles or tenseness in posture, which might indicate that Aoko was only playing a part. But much to his confusion, he could spot nothing out of the ordinary and even though Aoko could be a rather deceiving actor, she still could not deceive him.

"What is with that attitude? Did your doves take a dump on your head when you fed them this morning?" Aoko only asked back, raising a brow at Kaito's unusual lack of motivation and spirit.

"No, unlike you, my doves were raised to be housebroken!" Kaito only huffed back and expected an incredulous gasp from Aoko. But it seemed as if the girl was determined to not meet any of his expectations today, since all she did was continue to stare at him.

After a few seconds, she broke her silence, by reaching over and seemingly plucking something out of his hair, "They really did shit on your head?!", she said, as she now stared with amazement at the little white small heap of white in her palm.

Kaito, who had still been busy deciphering Aoko's body language, could not help but jump up from his chair, his mouth now hanging open.

"What? How? I made sure to train them to be housebroken? Did one of them have a digestion problem and I didn't notice?" His mind raced, recalling every single action of him this morning. But, despite his best efforts and his nearly perfect memory, he could not recall any signs of something like this happening. He recalled again and again and only when Aoko burst out laughing, he realized that he has been made a fool off.

"AOKO?!", Kaito exclaimed, his face no longer bored but angry and embarrassed. Aoko really wished she had somehow been able to clip the whole thing and was it just so that she could relive the moment again and again.

"Kaito," she giggled uncontrollably, her hands holding her stomach, as she doubled over in sheer laughter, "you...*giggle*…really believed…*snicker*…that?"

And with that, she lost herself in another fit of laughter, which came back with full force, when she looked up at Kaito's disgruntled and lightly flushed face. It was rare to surprise him and it was even rarer to make him lose his poker face, so she had to savor those moments

Only when he composed himself and even the last trace of red has vanished from his face, Aoko managed to calm down. But once she had regained full control over her body, she put her hands to her hip and grinned up at Kaito.

"I got you!", she proclaimed, eagerly awaiting his reaction and trying to recall when was the last time that she managed to catch him off guard like this.

But she had to give Kaito credits for how fast he got back his cool and for being a good loser.

"Yeah, yeah, you got me, alright.", he admitted, his stern frown now morphing into a grin, " didn't think you would still be able to pull things out of your sleeves as smoothly as this. It has been ages since you've last done it."

Aoko was somewhat surprised that Kaito still remember when that was, since she herself didn't know clearly, but instead of letting him know of this, she opted for broadening her grin. "Ha, you didn't think I still got it in me, didn't you?"

"Nope. Didn't expect those clumsy fingers to still be able to perform the art of sleight of hand. But tell me, what's the occasion for you to try once again?" He asked her back, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.

For a short moment, Aoko considered to tell him the truth about her meeting with Kid and how she figured out that there must have been two Kids at least. That or he had found the fountain of youth…

But instead of telling him, she only smirked back at him and said, "I just learned something very interesting last evening." With that she turned around and went back to her seat, since the lesson was about to start, but she had no idea, how much she had frightened Kaito with that comment.

O

"I just learned something very interesting last evening."

"Learned something very interesting"

"LEARNED SOMETHING"

The words echoed in Kaito's mind, over and over again and with every resonance, his anxiety grew.

"She must be talking about me!" his mind, now in complete overdrive provided, but immediately came up with countless reasons why that didn't seem likely. She hadn't turned him in, she had not started crying or screaming upon seeing him. He was still very much alive and there was no fish to be seen anywhere.

But at the same time, he could not shake the feeling off, that she was indeed referring to Kaito Kid and even though there were a lot of things she could have learned, the fact that she had performed a magic trick once again just didn't fit into anything.

He would have continued to muse over this topic, if not for the sudden interruption of said girl, which now approached his desk.

"Kaito" her cheerful voice chimed, snapping the young magician out of his last thoughts, "Care to eat outside today? The weather is really beautiful!"

He didn't respond immediately, because he was still submerged in his mussing, but caught himself quickly enough and his poker face fell into place "Okay by me, but it's not my fault when the best places are taken."

And with that, he followed the skipping step of Aoko, who carried, much to his delight, not only one lunch box but two. It wasn't rare for her to make an extra big lunch box and then pretend to spontaneously share some of it with him but making two lunchboxes was really a sign of good mood.

Of course, Kaito didn't care much whether the food came from his own or from Aoko's box, but to her it always seemed to be a big deal. And it also made a huge difference whether he had his own pairs of chopsticks or was using hers, but that was something he understood well enough.

Luckily today most students didn't seem to care for the good weather or just didn't like to sit in the shade of the beautiful old oak tree besides the flower bed, but Kaito honestly didn't care for the reason.

He was now just looking forward to treating his stomach to some tasty self-made food.

But when Aoko handed him one of the lunch boxes, a spark of suspicion flickered through his brain and he eyed the box carefully.

"I didn't put any fish into neither of the boxes so you don't have to fear anything." Aoko, who apparently caught his accusing gaze directed at the box, explained, before she opened her own and tilted it lightly to the side, so that he could get a good lock inside it. Upon seeing that there really was no fish in it, Kaito opened his own, not even checking whether she had really said the truth. After all he trusted her and that even despite her little prank this morning.

The food was, much like he expected, really good and Kaito had to ask himself again, where Aoko had learned to cook like this. After all, her mother died when they were still little children and her father was not a cook one should take after. Continuing to think this over, Kaito was just about to put the third sausage in his mouth when Aoko suddenly spoke up, "What's up with you today?"

Sending her a questioning glance, Kaito couldn't really answer her question, since he still had a mass of chewed up sausage in his mouth. Aoko, however understood the meaning of his message and started to explain, "You are so quiet today! As if you were planning something big, but your last big trick was only last week. Is somebody's birthday soon?"

"Aoko, I can be perfectly calm without needing a real reason. Or what do you think I am? Some kind of caffeine junky?" He snorted offended, after swallowing down his food.

Aoko seemed to consider his question for a moment and then retorted, "More of a sugar junky. But that's not what I meant? It's as if something was troubling you."

"You are troubling me!" Kaito's mind screamed but his mouth said something else "How are your thief-catching plans going on?"

O

As the bell sounded and announced the long await end of today's classes, Aoko could not help but once again notice how absent-minded Kaito was today.

He was even called out by the teacher for not paying attention! That wouldn't be strange for most others but for Kaito Kuroba himself, the magician who could juggle balls while watching TV and swot English vocabulary at the same time, this was more than strange!

However, whatever it was that weighed on his mind, he didn't want to talk about and quickly changed topics whenever Aoko even hinted at it. But that was Kaito for you, always bearing all the burdens himself and doing everything alone.

If it was because he lost his father that early and his mom was also absent a lot of the time or because he was just Kaito, Aoko couldn't tell. But she was determined to ease his burden as much as she could, which was sadly not that much since she had no idea what bothered him. However, she could give him some more room to do the things he though necessary in as much privacy as he deemed appropriate.

After all, it wasn't like she had nothing to do herself and if she imagined Kaito always running after her and tagging along wherever she would go, she could really understand why he seemed to seek some time for himself.

Just as she finished this train of thought, she walked out through the front entrance and was about to leave the school ground when a hand caught her arm and held her back. Surprised and a little bit annoyed, she turned her head to look who dared to just grab her arm, when she looked straight into two deep blue eyes.

"If I had my head in the clouds today, you've shot yours all the way to Pluto!", Kaito said with a flat look on his face "I shouted your name at least 5 times, but either you deemed me worthy of the cold treatment for whatever reason or the few gray cells in your head lost connection to the ears."

Not in the mood to start a quarrel now that he initiated a conversation for the first time today, Aoko only huffed back "I was just wondering what subject Kaito Kid chose for his university courses."

She had only planned it as a little joke, since she quickly realized how wasted those thoughts would be, since she had absolutely no evidence, that Kid was even attending university. But from his usually good manners and the wits, with which he created his riddles and tricks, Aoko guessed that he wouldn't have a hard time keeping up with his courses and he really had to much free time for being a normal employee.

But to her great surprise, Kaito stopped abruptly in his tracks and starred at her with a mixture of disbelieve and horror, before he spoke "How the heck did you even come to the conclusion that he goes to university?"

Aoko was a bit puzzled by Kaito's little outburst, especially since the displayed emotions didn't quite match what he had said, Aoko decided that today Kaito was just even more strange than usual and so she only scowled questioningly back at him. "Isn't it kinda obvious? As a dedicated fan, you should have noticed that there is no way he is still the same Kid from over 8 years ago."

Judging by the goggling and clueless look Kaito gave her, Aoko started to explain "I watched some old footage from his earlier heists and the old Kaitou Kid was much calmer and preferred to silently stand somewhere out of reach, instead of playing tag with the police force. Also, his heists were much shorter and he didn't talk as much as the new one. In a way the new Kid is the embodiment of the showman side of a magician, while the older was more focused on being mysterious, instead of flashy and charming."

The had already reached their houses, but since Aoko hadn't finished her explanation and Kaito didn't make any move towards his house's door, they continued their discussion. Leaning back against the garden wall of her house, to rest more comfortably, Aoko resumed her argument.

"But I'm getting off point, since he is not the old Kaitou Kid, he must be another person and all his manners point towards a rather young person. And since he is definitely smart and pretty well educated for a thief, it seems logical that he would visit a university!"

Despite the logical path her argument was going, Kaito didn't seem convinced and he wasted no time to explain to Aoko why that was.

"But how could a university student cover all the costs for equipment and props? You know, things like smoke or flash bombs aren't exactly cheap and that hang glider of his must be custom-made and thus cost even more. So, I would think it more likely that he isn't working or going to university at all but lives off his savings. I don't know, but maybe he is the son of some rich family and has too much time at hand or he has built up a fortune through stealing."

"I don't think either of those options make sense." Aoko had to disagree.

"Though I don't know how he pays for all his tools, I don't think he is that rich, since his equipment isn't the latest cutting edge technology and he isn't showing his wealth off in any way, as you would normally expect from a rich heir. And if he had already made a fortune through stealing, why should he suddenly give the loot back? Even if he doesn't want to keep the jewels, it would still seem more likely to donate for a good cause instead of just handing them back."

Concluding her first point, Aoko now crossed her arms before she continued "And if he were a rich boy, then why would he steal at all? There would be much better options to spend time and have fun. Even if he did it for the adrenaline rush, car racing would be as exiting but would even make his true identity famous."

"No, I really don't think he does it out of boredom or something like that." Aoko finished her deduction.

Apparently, her points had struck Kaito pretty hard, since he seemed to be in deep thought and Aoko couldn't help but notice how backed into a corner he looked.

"He must be realizing that his big idol isn't who he thought he was", Aoko mused, but wondering at the same time whether Kaito could really misjudge a person that badly.

O

Kaito had expected Aoko to bring up his alter ego, he even had expected a direct accusation and has prepared something for that, but an in-depth discussion of Kaitou Kid's life situation and motive wasn't what he had foreseen. But now that it had come to this, he didn't find the situation as unpleasant as he would have expected.

Probably the cause lay with Aoko's relaxed and strangely neutral way of talking about Kid, but he didn't dare to point out her lack of aggression and curses towards the thief.

After all, it was kinda nice to hear her speak about him not in an unnecessarily emotional or begrudging way, even though he wasn't certain whether his new status as study subject was that much of an improvement.

He made a mental note to thank Conan for this, because had taught Aoko that way of thinking with her brain rather than with her heart, but since Kid wasn't known for sudden acts of charity or sympathy, he didn't see a way how he could repay the little sleuth for the favor. Maybe he would just make it seem as if he had to leave the jewel behind, because of something Conan has come up with, but that would certainly not go unnoticed by his smallest critic.

But speaking of jewels, Kaito had a sudden idea to continue his conversation with Aoko.

"Well," he started slowly, making it seem as he didn't really believe in what he would say "If you don't think he has egoistic or ill intentions, maybe he stealing the jewel to checking whether they have been swapped with a fake."

His suggestion wasn't that unlikely, but nonetheless Aoko discarded it with a dismissive gesture. "And for that he has to make a big show out of his thefts and endanger himself? No, it must be something else."

She lowered her head and started staring on the ground, a well-known frown appearing on her face, clearly showing that she was thinking intently about this matter. After a few seconds of mulling, her face suddenly lit up a little and Kaito readied himself for the new thought that had undoubtably come to her.

"Maybe… maybe he is trying to alert somebody!"

Hiding a little wince behind his poker face, Kaito couldn't help but wonder when the naïve and sometimes a little dense Aoko had become such a good detective. It couldn't all have come from Conan, since even the ingenious child hadn't come this close to figuring out Kaitou Kid's purpose and aside from him, she hadn't had any other teachers. At least none that he knew off…

But what he didn't consider was that Aoko had learned from the original Kaitou Kid himself, back when she and Kaito were still small. Of course, none of them every thought of that, but for an outsider, it should have been pretty obvious that all the tricks and ploys Toichi Kuroba, the great magician himself, has shown them, weren't just for entertainment.

If he had intended to leave his legacy to one of the two or just did this in order to prepare them for life, no one but Toichi would know. But whatever the reason may be, the fact remained that both had learned a lot about showmanship and magic, even though they now used that knowledge differently.

"But why would he cause such a ruckus just to alert somebody? Wouldn't it be less dangerous if he would use a signal that only the other party would understand and would seem normal to everybody else?" Kaito argued, trying to get Aoko away from the truth, since he wasn't particularly keen on having her know about Pandora.

But today Aoko was just as stubborn as a mule, but with the annoying addition of good arguments.

"You're right. So… obviously he doesn't want to alert somebody specifically but wants EVERYBODY to know about something. So, he wants to alert the general public and the authorities. But I still don't see a reason why he would do that."

This was getting very frustrating for Kaito and it didn't help to raise his mood that she was only steps away from figuring out a huge part of the big scheme that Kaito Kid was. Out of annoyance and a little desperate to stop her from thinking, he huffed out, "Why don't you just go and ask him then? You have managed to corner him once, so next time just don't get lost in starring at the stars and humming some stupid melody."

Right after he said so, he wanted to strangle himself, because not only did he encourage her to chase after him, but he also confessed that he somehow knew of her last meeting with Kid. Hoping that she might have overheard his comment, he threw a brief glance at her, only to see her stare at him in sheer surprise. Knowing now that she clearly had heard him, he quickly entered the house and closed the door, before she got the chance to ask him anything.

Once inside, he all but rushed to his room, locked door and window and closed the curtains. He desperately needed time for himself.

Time to think of a reason why Kaito could know about this.

Time to pray that she might forget.

O

But Aoko didn't forget.

However, if it was thanks to his immense luck and masterful poker face or to her inexperience as a detective, she had misinterpreted the facts.

Where Kaito only saw ways for her to suspect him, Aoko found other theories to explain the facts and fit them together to one coherent picture.

"Kaito is jealous!" was her immediate thought after her friend had left her very rudely and then slammed the door in her face, when he already was so quiet in school. Now, she though, she finally understood that he wasn't absent minded, but that he was hurt in his feelings. Obviously because she had interrupted his nightly meetings with Kid!

"I see now, "Aoko recognized what she thought to be the truth "The reason why Kid wouldn't leave immediately after he reached the roof was because he waited to meet somebody. And that somebody had to be Kaito, since Conan was no longer allowed to leave the main area. But Kaito didn't tell anyone because he knows how much I hate Kid and he didn't want to hurt my feelings."

Now, completely going down the rabbit hole, Aoko's teenage mind quickly started to conjure up illusions, ranging from stories of unrequited love to regular stand offs between two rivals.

"That also explains why he is so busy, before every heist. He is carefully preparing his meeting with Kid! Oh, what a horrible friend I am, to come between him and his -whatever Kid is to him-"

She now started to scold herself, still not noticing her mistake. But after she has wrecked her brain for half an hour with self-loathing, suddenly one of Conan's quotes sprung up in her mind.

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

"Yes, I nearly forgot!" Aoko remembered in the end. "I have to make sure whether I'm right, before I take my theory for true. But how should I do that? I can't just ask Kaito about it, he would deny it for sure. But just peeking on him feels kinda wrong, I mean it's like he would peek at me undressing. . .  
which he actually. . . has done. . . more than once!"

And with that, Aoko was absolutely determined that she would not only sneak a peek on Kaito's and Kid's meeting, but that she would also take pictures, just so that she could rub them in Kaito's face!

* * *

The moon hung low in the night sky, surrounded by the little, twinkling lights of thousands of stars only scarcely covered by a lonely, little cloud, which wandered over the firmament.

But the tranquil and almost spiritual pleasing atmosphere didn't reach the roaring crowed, gathered around a huge statue, erected to pay tribute to all the brave army pilots of The Second World War. Their chanting and cheering disturbed the silent darkness and the flashy Kid-banners only helped to further draw attention away from the wonders of natures.

The people only stared at the statue and the "Sorrow of the sea", a huge, blue diamond, imbedded in the nose of the fighter plane statue and the reason why everybody had gathered. The first of them had come hours ago, even before the police arrived, only to acquire a good place to watch the heist from and now, it was only minutes till the thief would arrive.

Aoko had obviously also prepared herself. Not with waiting for hours, but with exploring the surroundings, searching for a place where Kid and Kaito could meet. Bringing her camera along, since she wanted to have a better resolution than her phone could provide, she had located three promising places: a little clearing in the forest, nearly invisible thanks to the trees' cover and it's remote location near a cliff, a small and remote beach encased by sharp rocks and steep walls of natural stone and the top of the statue, where one could duck out of sight.

Personally, Aoko thought the clearing would be the best place, since the forest would only aid in escaping and it was really hard to sneak up on anybody, since the forest ground would give you away instantly. But the beach was also a very viable option, especially when Kid had some kind of air tank to go diving, but it would be very easy to spy on them, if one would just lay on the ground near the cliffs edge. The plane however, was the place she doubted the most, since while it wasn't easy to spot them there without climbing on top of the statue or fly over it, the only way of escape would be to hide in the crowd, but since there was a closed off area around the statue, it would be really hard to not get spotted, when jumping or climbing down.

But since they were talking about Kid here, risk was not something she would have to take much into account.

"Hurry up and get the cameras over here!" her father bellowed his last orders of preparation and Aoko had to admit that he had outdone himself today.

Sure, he had already implemented numerous kinds of tech, but high-speed cameras directed at the gem, which would sound an alarm as soon as anything bigger than a cat entered their field of vision, was something he hasn't whipped out yet.

But as unfailing as they seemed, Aoko had already come up with enough ways to trick them, starting by the fact, that the cameras themselves didn't do anything to stop Kid, but merely alarmed them to his presents. Something which the fans themselves already did…

Of course, she had told her father of the flaws in his plan, but to her great annoyance, he brushed them away, claiming that the few, little flaws, as he called them, were not course for any concern. Not one to give up quickly, Aoko had tried again, but to no avail other than to frustrate her even more.

"The worst part is, I'm sure they would listen to Hakuba!", she grumbled under her breath, as she positioned herself a little away from the huge bulk of the fans, knowing fully well that she had no chance catching Kid in a fair chase.

"No, if I truly want to arrest him or even talk to him, then I have to find him AFTER he stole the jewel. Not while he is still attempting to steal it."

In a way, it was much like her chases with Kaito, where she also could never catch him, but had a rather easy time punishing him afterwords by either surprising him with fish or anything else that seemed appropriate. After all, he couldn't keep his guard up forever and neither could Kid.

But thinking of Kaito reminded her once again of the talk she had with him, when they both came here together about an hour ago. Since Aoko wanted to catch Kaito in whatever he was doing with Kid, she had to make sure that Kaito would reach the magician. So she had deliberately shared some of the security intel with him, of course only to help him in not getting himself caught. After all, he was as much a civilian as anybody else and so, people might believe he was Kid's assistance and trying to inform his boss of something.

This would surely lead to Kaito getting arrested and that wasn't something Aoko was particularly keen on seeing, so she opted for aiding him a little.

Looking around, trying to spot Kid or Kaito, she was not surprised to find neither of both. Kid had started to be a lot more careful around her with his disguises and Kaito had run of almost twenty minutes ago, most likely to maybe spot the thief, before the heist started. After all, knowing where he hid whatever he needed for his heist, was a huge advantage, since Kid would eventually come back to that spot in order to retrieve his things, so Kaito just had to wait for him.

And if that was the case, Aoko had only to wait for Kid as well to get her pictures.

O

To say Kaito was nervous was a grave understatement!

Of course, he was not on edge because of the heist nor because of the police or his unwanted guests in black. It was because of Aoko!

The girl had once again managed to confuse and scare him to no end, when she suddenly started to info dump him about the security measures and possible weaknesses of said measures. And all of that without even waiting for Kaito to ask!

At this point, he was pretty much convinced that she suspected him of being Kid. After all, what other reason would there be for here to do something like this. And judging by the sly smiles and her rather cheeky jokes, she was absolutely confident in whatever she was planning. So much so, that Kaito considered to blow off today's heist, but eventually he realized that this would just drag out the inevitable. So, he was now, with a heavy heart, ready to start his trick.

In preparation for that, he already had sneaked his way in, as one of the people in the first row before the fence, which the police built around the statue. But this would ultimately be their downfall, since the people used it to orientate themselves.

Already grinning in anticipation off his trick, he cast his gaze down to his watch and followed it's second hand, which slowly ticked towards zero.

The moment it reached the twelve, a loud, trashing sound erupted, immediately followed by a huge cloud of smoke, which eloped the whole statue and hid it from everybody's eyes.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!", Kid's unmistakable voice rang out from the direction of the statue and his fans took this as their cue to race towards where the statue had been, in an attempt to come closer to the fence and spot something through the smoke. But the fence wasn't where it should have been and when the smoke began to disappear, the first line of the crowd found themselves pushed up against the statue itself.

The smoke itself had already been enough to trigger the camera's alarm, but now that it was gone, the police were still unable to turn the constant ringing of warning off, since it was immediately retriggered by the sheer number of people, who scurried around in its field of vision.

Desperately trying to restore orders, the police officers did their best to get the huge mass of people away from the statue, while the fans tried to get a glimpse of Kid. But the uncontrollable havoc was suddenly silenced, when Kid's voice rung out again.

But this time, it came from the forest opposite of the statue.

"It appalls me to see that proper understanding of how one is to enjoy a show, has not survived to this day and age. What are we performers to do, when our audience does not even look in the right direction for the show? Such a cruel fate." He smoothly spoke, loud and booming so that everybody could clearly hear him. The message did not fail in its purpose and in no time all attention was directed at the line of trees.

For a few seconds, nothing moved, but then little lights started to flicker on, sparking for just a second, before they vanished again in the dark between the tree's massive trunks, only to appear somewhere else. It looked like a giant swarm of glow bugs had landed in the branches to rest their wings. All the while, Kid continued to speak, spinning a tale of how magic was not just a means of entertainment, but a choice to live, hooking all the onlookers with his philosophical exploits.

In the meantime, Kaito could barely keep himself from cringing at the utter load of nonsense he had lulled together for this distraction.

Obviously, he wasn't sitting in a tree's branches and contemplation his choice of life style, surrounded by blinking Christmas chains, but instead he was hanging upside down from the top of the plane statue, fiddling around at the "Sorrow of the sea", gently freeing it from its cage. To his great relief, the jewel was only lightly held by the friction of the stone and gravity itself, thus not requiring him damaging the statue itself, which he would truly regret. Not that he cared much for what it resembled or the reason why it was built, he despised wars from the bottom of his heart, but he still admired the masterful craftsmanship used to carve the stone.

Finally freeing the gem completely, Kaito quickly let it vanish and made his way back up to the top of the statue. After all, the tape he used for the distraction, and which he swore to burn once this was over, was coming to its end and so, Kaito had to ready himself for his grand exit.

O

When Kaitou Kid had first started to talk about the beauty of an unseen horizon, Aoko had suspected that something was off, but when he started to compare his tricks and illusion with the making of the atom bomb, a rather insensitive comparison in Aoko's regards, she was sure that something wasn't right.

At first, she though, she would have realized it in time, but when she could no longer see the shimmering dark where the jewel was supposed to be, she cursed herself for underestimating Kid. Of course, she had immediately tried to find her father and tell him, but before she could even spot him, Kid's next trick started.

Since she had stop paying careful attention to Kid's words after she realized the deception, she nearly missed the moment when he announced that he would teleport again, but this time, without delay. This obviously confused her a bit, since he was nowhere to be seen, but just in that moment, a figure, clad in white stepped out from the trees.

However, thanks to the huge distance between her and him, she could not be certain whether it was really Kid and the skeptic part of her brain instantly proposed the idea of two separate people, just pretending to be the same.

The press and fans, however, didn't seem to think that far and so the shouts of 'Kid! Kid!' quickly rose up, everybody pointing at the white silhouette amidst the darkish green. Kid, obviously enjoying the attention, started to slowly raise his arms and in the next moment, he vanished in a cloud of smoke with a snap of his fingers.

Since Aoko could guess what he intended to do next, her head instantly turned around, but even so, the thief was already standing on top of the plane made of stone. The crowed didn't take long to spot the figure and the cheering and chanting immediately rose up to an ear-shattering level.

Holding her ears in pain, Aoko nearly thanked the thief when he extended his arms in a calming gesture and managed to quiet down the crowd.

When they were finally calm enough that he could be heard again, his words came as a surprise to most of them, "Overcoming the bonds of time and space is an admirable accomplishment indeed, but why stop when you finally mastered it?"

And with that, a puff of smoke erupted once again, leaving nothing of the thief behind. Looking around to spot him again, Aoko was shocked to find the magician amidst the crowd or atop of it to be precise.

"This bloody magician!", she cursed to herself, as he was just hovering a few feet above her father, who had climbed on a police van and was frantically looking for the trickster in white.

Said trickster, to the huge amusement of his fans, was mimicking her fathers' movements near perfectly, while standing only a few feet above him in the air, making him seem all the more incompetent. Thanks to the numerous laughs and pointed fingers at him, Inspector Nakamori finally spotted the thief and was now jumping around vividly, but still wasn't able to grab a hold of his legs.

Tauntingly, Kid even leaned down a bit and started to lightly pat the fuming detective on the head, every time he jumped up, obviously not letting his hand get caught. This continued for nearly a minute and by the time the Inspector had finally got the idea to let himself get lifted up, so that he could reach the thief, the smug bastard of a criminal just snapped his fingers again, vanishing in another cloud of smoke.

This time, he appeared far away from the huge crowd, right in the middle of the nearby parking lot. Seeing that Kid was now standing on the ground, fans and policeman alike charged at him, in an attempt to get a hold of him, be it for making an arrest or getting an autograph. But before anybody was able to reach him, the magician snapped his fingers once again, disappearing like he did before.

Expecting him to turn up again somewhere in sight, everybody looked around, but to their great disappointment, he was nowhere to be found.

Only when small white cards, claiming that Kid had successfully stolen the "Sorrow of the sea", started to fall from the sky, some of them looked up, seeing the thief flying away with a big white balloon attached to his back, rapidly increasing the distance between him and the scene of his heist.

Fearing to lose the thief once again, the police and the reporters alike were quick to rush to their cars, immediately pursuing Kid's balloon who was growing smaller by the second. Only minutes later, the huge place in front of the statue was nearly empty, save for a few people and the enormous amount of trash such a huge number of people would leave behind.

Carefully wading through the ocean of empty bags of potato crisps and crushed soda cans, Aoko made her way over towards the forest. She was not particularly interested in a neck-breaking chase through the city, especially since she neither owned a car or bike nor did she believe that Kid really escaped with a balloon.

If you bothered to think it over, it was really obvious, that he didn't had the time to blow that thing up and reach the height he needed. Even if he could teleport, which he obviously couldn't, that much was clear to her, he would still need time to fill the balloon with gas, and since nobody was crushed by an gas canister falling from the sky, there was no way he could have filled the balloon mid-air.

"He probably hid a filled balloon with a dummy before the heist somewhere around here, then covered it in a dark cloth and let it rise when he first "teleported" away. That way, nobody would notice the balloon and once it was time, he just had to get rid of the black cloth, which could be done easily with a remote-controlled machine either on the ground or on the balloon itself." Aoko mussed, slowly starting to bring the pieces together.

"The teleportation could be easily done with an assistant and good planning, both using the time of the others appearance to reach their next location. The flying in the air part is something he has done more than once, either balancing on a string or hanging from one." and with that, she had basically cleared all the mysteries, all but for one.

Where was he now?

O

It had been a long time, since he was as pleased with one of his shows as he was now. Granted, the trick didn't look as flashy and magical as his others, but the true beauty lay with the near impossibility of the trick, along with the precise timing it needed for a proper execution. To an outsider, this may not seem to be as important as the effect it creates, but a magician could appreciate the accurate planning and the perfectly trained moves, making the trick more than simply clouding everything with smoke.

With these thoughts in mind, Kaito finally reached the clearing, where he was supposed to meet Jii-san, after they both had finished their last act of disappearance. But, to his great surprise, the clearing was empty and not just Jii-san was missing, but all the props and equipment as well. This spelled danger to Kaito, not because he wondered why Jii wasn't here as planned, but because they had made a plan which lead to this situation. Jii not being here, meant that he had seen Snake or one of his henchmen.

Not letting any hint of this realization slip, Kid pretended to scan his surroundings, like every thief would do if he had to trespass such an open area and finally decided to go around the clearing. Stepping lightly, but still acting unconcerned and unknowing of their presence, Kaito slowly circled around the open space, keeping an eye out for possible signs of somebody hiding.

But not able to find anything, Kid decided, that it was a greater risk to waste time and that Snake had to confront him, in order to confirm that he still had the gem. After all, if they killed him and then weren't able to find the gem, which was quite possibly Pandora, that would ruin their whole plan.  
So, already preparing a few smoke bombs and flash-bangs, Kaito bravely stepped out on the clearing and called, "Come out and face me! I know you're here!"

For a few seconds, nothing moved, but then, a group of figures, clad in black trench coats emerged from the shadows, some aiming guns at him.

In front of them, to nobody's surprise, Snake, with a grin plastered across his face. He seemed to positively think that they had surprised the thief, with their sneaky tactic of not crashing the whole heist by rushing in with 20 armed men and trying to catch Kid.

"Ah, my most desperate enemies have finally managed to appear on stage, I was just thinking that you stood me up long enough." Kid greeted them with an air of complete calmness and confidence, which he was, since he knew fully well that this were rather favorable circumstances for him. No civilians which he had to take into account, lots of ways and places to get away or hide and on top of that, a steep cliff right behind him, perfect to let the gem fall down into the sea, even if that was only meant as a threat. But Snake seemed to not notice such things, judging by the cocky smile and the fact that he hasn't even pulled out his gun.

"Kid!" he bellowed the next second, his voice clearly carrying the confidence he felt, "Hand us over the stone and we won't have to hurt you!"

But all Kaito gave him as answer was a disappointed shaking of his head, before he spoke up himself, " This is a diamond, not a stone and I can't possibly give up such a precious treasure to such a brute, who can't even appreciate it's beauty! Especially not if it really is Pandora!"

And with that, Kid quickly stepped back, now standing at the edge of the cliff, jewel, still hidden in his closed fist, held out over the gapping maw of rocks and sea water.

"If you truly want it, you have to come and get your immortality, because I for sure won't be the one, who holds it under the moon for you!" Kaito told the now pretty disgruntled looking criminal, who must have understood the situation he was in right now.

"Curse you, KID" Snake screamed, his face starting to flush, and he had already pulled his gun out.  
But even as the nozzle of the weapon pointed at Kaito, he didn't even flinch and so they kept on staring at each other.

Their staring contest would have probably gone on for much longer, were it not for the sudden sound of many footsteps, accompanied with voices, speaking about how they had seen Kid going this way.

And when the first calls of "POLICE! Show yourself" came from the woods, Snake and his gang all but bolted away in the opposite direction, desperately trying to get away from their certain arrest, if they were found waving guns around.

But when the man in black have completely vanished and the trampling of the police grew louder and louder, Kaito didn't do so much as to move an inch. Only when the tape, which simulated the approaching police, has recited their orders of 'freeze' and 'raise your hands' for the utmost time, Kaito finally turned it off, glad that he had been paranoid enough to press Jii into installing this system.

And to his great delight and relief, it had turned out just as planned.

O

When Aoko first had ventured to search for Kid, after her dad and the reporters, along with most of the other people have gone off to chase Kid's balloon, she didn't get her hopes high to find what she was looking for. After all, the infamous thief was mad enough to pretend that he was a dummy, to trick his followers into ceasing their chase, once they realized that they've apparently been fooled.

Such high-risk double tricks were right up his alley and even if he didn't pull that trick this time, with most of the people gone, the ways to safely escape for him have dramatically increased.

Stumbling a little through the thick and old woods, nearly tripping over a root or two, Aoko's attention was suddenly drawn to the shimmer of a light. Cranking her neck and peeking up, between the twisted branches of an old oak tree, Aoko realized that the little glimmer was merely the light reflecting of a smooth, black surface, which she quickly identified as plastic.

Curious as to what this new-looking piece of plastic was doing out here, hidden between the plants, she tried to find a way to reach it, but to her great dismay it was far out of her range and she could see no way of climbing up the huge trunk of this ancient tree.

A little disgruntled, Aoko nonetheless started to look for clues near the tree to might find a clue as to who has placed the little contraption there. But again, she was disappointed, when she not only couldn't find anything that seemed connected to the little machine, not even a wire.

"So it is wireless then." Aoko concluded softly to herself, only realizing the stupidity in her statement after it had left her mouth.

"Yeah Aoko, a machine without a wire is wireless! Great conclusion. Conan would be so proud of you!" A very sarcastic voice in her head reported.

Shoving the urge to facepalm herself away, Aoko also deemed that Kid's machine (who else could it belong to?) would not not bring her any closer to the thief's whereabouts and even worse, it already has cost her precious time, which might make the difference between catching Kid and being laughed at by said thief.

Quickening her pace, Aoko soon found what she was originally looking for: the clearing. Ducking herself quietly between the bushes at the clearing's edges, Aoko was pleased to see the thief in white standing right in front of the nearby cliff. Not that she planned on pushing him over it's edge, even though she was tempted, but his position gave him no place to hide himself or anybody else.

"Now I just have to wait for Kaito to show up." she noted much more cheerful than before in her head, "God, I'm curious what the two of them were doing all this time, when no one was looking."

Of course, she didn't miss the hidden meaning in her thoughts, but she absolutely didn't allow herself to jump up on some Kaitou-Kid-Yaoi-Train!

That was a task she more than willingly left to his countless fan girls, who for sure had already devised numerous stories, ending in diabetes-bringing-sweet romance, mostly between the thief and one of his high school detectives.

"One of the high school detectives, who chase him!" Aoko quickly corrected in her head, shuddering that she was ready to call them Kid's detectives.

But her mussing was suddenly interrupted when rustling noise came from the edge of the clearing, drawing Kid's and her attention alike.

Of course, she expected to see Kaito emerge from the green, so she was rather shocked to see men wrapped in black trench coats appear. It also didn't take her long to recognize them as the criminals who nearly shot her at her the first heist she attended, after she had started as Conan's pupil.

Shrinking back into her hiding place, careful not to make any noise, Aoko silently followed the conservation between the magician and the leader of the men in black, countless thoughts racing through her mind.

"Most desperate enemies?! Pandora!? Immortality!? What are they talking about?!"

Her mind was in utter chaos and as soon as she tried to bring the jumbled pieces in some kind of order, the police started to bellow commands through the air.

Of course, Aoko quickly put two and two together, realizing that the small black thing she saw in the woods was a speaker and now she experienced how effective it was, when the criminals gave heel and vanished into the woods.

This left the thief in white standing all alone on the clearing, his gaze lingering where his apparent enemies have vanished in the bushes, waiting for them to go far away. After that, he finally turned off the infernal noise his speakers blared out into the night and let a long-held breath out.

In this moment, all tenseness seemed to seep out of him and he looked a lot less like a notorious criminal, who played tag with the police and went toe to toe with mysterious crime-syndicates, but much more like your average overwork student, desperate for his next holidays to just forget about school for a week or even just a couple of days.

Seeing him like this, exposed and unprotected by his usual mask of trickery and chivalry, would have been a devastating blow for every dedicated Kid fan and even Aoko found herself feeling pity for the man she and her dad were out to catch.

Of course, this pity would not be enough to forgive him…

But truth be told, she felt much more like going out there to comfort him instead of slapping a pair of cuffs around his wrist. He looked so lost and alone, like the whole world had sworn to bring him down, that Aoko was strongly reminded of those tragic heroes in popular manga with their tragic backstories.

"Does he have a similar story to tell?" Aoko wondered, thinking back to when she waited for him on the roof, "Perhaps that's the case. After all, he seems to not steal out of greed or another low motive, but for a different reason. And, if those guys appear this frequently at his heist and are obviously his enemies, then they might be the reason why he holds the heists. To draw them out!"

Shifting slightly in a more comfortable position, while still remaining hidden, Aoko continued to pursue this train of thought.

"It would explain why he always sends notice ahead of his heist and also why he goes through the immense trouble of whipping up those breath-taking heists. To draw attention and generate publicity! That way, he makes sure that those guys in black take note of what he is doing, and they must attend the heist, because they can't track him down, when he is not wearing white."

"But why is he so important to them? Just now he said something about immortality and Pandora, but the box of Pandora isn't connected to immortality at all, if I remember correctly. Besides, there is no such thing as immortality or a Pandora's Box, that would be ludicrous!"

The thought of something existing, which would allow humans to surpass their mortal bounds was something Aoko had difficulties to imagine.

Granted, it could save millions of lives and probably sustain them indefinitely, but it would also make life pretty much meaningless. After all, we strive to find happiness and purpose exactly because out time is limited and because we can't afford to waste it.

Taking the factor of time and maybe even death itself away would catapult us ahead in our evolution and we would conquer the universe in no time, but what comes after that? What comes after we elevated humans to gods?

Ultimately, immortality would not lead us to a happy end, Aoko knew that, and that was even if all humans received the gift to live eternally, something she very much doubted the men in black planned on doing. If they were to use or sell this power, the world would fall into chaos and madness, everybody just fighting to get their hands on the power, only to survive.

This thought made Aoko shudder, and she was not willing to take that thought any further, knowing that it would lead nowhere. So, instead she focused her attention back on the facts and logic and resumed her mussing from there "In the end, it doesn't matter whether tha . . . Pandora-thing truly exist or not, but just if those guys in black are willing to kill for it."

And judging after everything she has seen so far, that was as sure as the rising of the moon.

"Speaking about moon, Kid had said something about 'not holding the jewel under the moon'. I wonder what that meant?" Aoko now came to ask herself, looking up at the magician, hoping for an answer.

As if Kid truly heard her wish, he turned around to face the sea just when Aoko let her gaze rest on him once again and held the jewel high up in the air, letting the moonlight fall on the black gem.

Much like you would expect from it, the diamond sparkled under the silver shine, reflecting it in all directions, sprinkling the ground and trees in tiny specks of silver and white. The view was breath-taking and Aoko considered whether the magical scene was the reason why Kid had refused to hold the stone in the moon light for the men in black.

But when her gaze wandered back from the tiny glimmers of light to Kid, his disappointed expression told her that this display, as stunning as it might have been, was not the reason why he exposed the gem to the moon. Heaving a heavy sigh, the thief muttered something that sounded a lot like 'once again' and let the jewel vanish in his pocket.

Turning around and slowly strolling back over the clearing, he suddenly stopped, frozen in his place and Aoko wondered what has surprised him that much. Before she could follow his gaze however, she realized that he was staring her straight in the eyes, his own pair filled with horror and panic.

Wondering for a moment, why she was standing in clear view, Aoko realized that she had left her cover when Kid had bathed the diamond in moon light, if it was because of the view or because of him, that she could not clearly tell and that irritated her greatly.

She was only distracted for a second, but that was enough for Kid to slam down a smoke bomb and vanish in an instant.

All of that happened so fast, that Aoko couldn't even speak out the words she already had on her tongue, before he disappeared.

And so, a soft "Wait" echoed from the trees of the clearing.

* * *

Hope you liked this chapter and I'm sorry for the long wait. Life can be hard sometimes.

Farewell


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Normally, Kaito should have been happy with the heist, since he had managed to acquire his target without any trouble worth mentioning and his plan for fooling Snake and his henchman worked perfectly. On top of that, Jii's quick thinking had saved him a lot of equipment and kept the old man hidden from the men in black and the police alike.

But despite that, Kaito wasn't happy at all.

"Why?" the question shot through his head, "Why was Aoko on that clearing?"

He had made sure that nobody followed him, and he very much doubted that Aoko would follow a bunch of suspicious-looking people into the forest without calling for back-up. Granted, she was rather reckless at times, but even her stubbornness would not let her pursue the same gangster that nearly shot her before, just out of sheer curiosity.

That meant that there had been some reason why she would come to the clearing.

 _"_ _Was it just a coincidence? No, that couldn't be! There should be no reason for her to just venture out into the woods!"_ Kaito contemplated, not coming up with anything that would explain her behavior.

Since he failed to explain her sudden appearance, he tried to solve the other mystery surrounding her. Namely, why she had told him as **Kaito** so much about the security protocols.

Did he let too much of his Kid persona slip and thus made Aoko think that Kid had disguised himself as Kaito? No, that wouldn't be a reason for her to force feed him security intel, but rather the exact opposite.

So, for some reason she thought it necessary for Kaito to know the security measures.

 _"Did she expect me to have a stand-off with Kid?" he now mused, "That would made sense, if she didn't want me to trigger the alarm or get caught by a trap."_

Turning his solution over in his head a couple of times, Kaito found no severe flaws to it and thus thought he now knew why Aoko had acted that way.

 _"That would also explain why she seemed so excited. She must have looked forward to either me or Kid getting our asses kicked! For her both outcomes were fine, since both of us deserved a bump to our ego."_

Content, that he had figured out one mystery, he tried to come up with a solution for the one he thought about earlier as well. But like before, he couldn't think off any other solution, besides Aoko either being lucky and stumbling into him or that he had given her some reason during the heist to search out the clearing.

Regardless of what was actually true, the damage was already done.

By how she had looked at him when he turned around, he knew that she had heard at least a part of the exchange he had with Snake. And of course, it had to be this night, in which he screamed out the whole secret connecting him and Snake.

Burying his head in his hands, Kaito groaned out aloud, frustrated by this rare moment of misfortune and stupidity.

"Out of all nights…" he grunted, in his head already trying to assess the damage this would do. After all, there was no way Aoko would just walk away from this.

If he was lucky, she would tell the police and then decide that it would be too dangerous for her. Kaito really prayed for this to happen.

But how he knew Aoko, she would not stop coming to the heist, be it a bunch of armed robbers or a pack of self-detonating, flying dolphins that awaited her.

However, even that would be ok for him, as long as she told the police about the guys in black.

Not that he was keen on dragging the task force further into his trouble, but he very much preferred it to Aoko not telling ANYONE about what she saw.

Sadly, this was exactly something this girl would do, because she also didn't want to involve others and thus, he would not only have to watch out for himself, but for a snooping Aoko too.

That would be fun.

O

The day had already been taxing for Aoko with all the ruckus of a roaring crowd, the excitement of seeing Kaito's secret meeting with Kid and the toll on her brain from coming up and sorting through the various scheme's Kid could come up with.

But the mysterious guys in black and their business with Kid was what finally brought her to the edge of her abilities.

Heaving a groan coming from a terrible headache, Aoko dragged herself up the stairs, nearly falling down when a sudden attack of dizziness disrupted her feeble balance, till she stumbled in her room and fell onto her bed.

Barely gathering enough strength to change out of her sweaty and wrinkled clothes and into her pajamas, before she sacked back onto her bed like a bag of potatoes.

Nursing her head by slowly massaging her templets, Aoko tried to recall what had happened, since she knew for certain that she would not be able to sleep, without having sorted through all the new information.

 _"So, not only is Kid clearly insane, reckless and potentially trying to kill himself in the most spectacular way, he is now also searching for a 'Pandora' which is supposed to grant immortality and somehow that 'Pandora' is connected to the stones he steals… Oh, not to forget that the moon must be somehow involved too."_

 _"_ _Who knows, maybe the man in the moon is just holding a paper case and the winner, who shows him the most beautiful stone there is, gets this 'Pandora'!"_ grinning silly to herself, Aoko decided that she needed to make up her mind as to what this 'Pandora' is. From what she heard, she couldn't clearly tell whether it was a person or an object, but since the only 'Pandora' she knew was Pandora's Box, she decided to stick with the cube-shaped object for now.

Content with that decision, the completely worn out Aoko fell fast asleep, dreaming of sitting on a giant Kid chasing flying boxes, while men in black were constantly falling from the sky, only to disperse into numerous cards upon hitting the ground, all showing Kid's infamous doodle!

* * *

When the next morning was already over and most parents called their children to eat lunch, Aoko was still laying in her bed, being thankful that it was Saturday.

Glancing lazily at her clock, she noted that it already was close to 1:00 P.M, which meant that she had slept for ten hours straight and still feels like a truck has run her over.

After she finally managed to lift herself up and take a long overdue shower, Aoko still needed more than twenty minutes to simply shrug a t-shirt over and slip into a pair of sloppy sweatpants. Normally she paid at least a little attention to how she looked, but today this was the last of her many concerns.

Still feeling tired and tense from yesterday, the high school girl ventured into the kitchen and made herself a cup of black coffee, downing the hot liquid in one gulp only to pull a face at the horrible taste. Coffee was really not her pair of shoes, but she knew nothing that could wake you up quicker.

As the strong smell of the black beverage finally started to clear the fog in her head, Aoko made her way back to her room, pulled out her notebook, which she fully devoted to Kaitou Kid and his heists and began to scribble down what she had learned.

Not leaving her desk for two hours straight, only once to get her laptop since she needed to research if there were other 'Pandora's that might be connected to this whole mess, Aoko was finally at a loss for answers. Her search didn't turn up anything useful nor did she manage to connect the stones Kid had stolen with the moon, each other or Pandora, safe for the rather obvious fact that they were all pretty big.

It seemed as if Kid was just jumping at every expensive jewel only to hold it in the moonlight, but that did make so little sense that she doubted even Kid would be insane enough to come up with this.

Something was just missing, and she didn't know what nor did she know where to look. Of course, she could ask Kid or the guys in black, but she heavily doubted that any of the two would tell her anything.

Taping the end of her pencil in a slow rhythm at her head, she pondered over whether she should go and search the library, but eventually decided that it wouldn't most likely not bring up anything, since most books along with a rough outline of their contents were known to all mighty Google.

"Maybe I'm just not seeing something..." Aoko whispered softly, not particularly pleased with this revelation, because she thought she had already learned more sleuthing than most other people knew from her little sensei.

Her little sensei?

"OF COURSE!" she suddenly ejaculated while springing up from her chair, causing it to topple over, "Maybe Conan-kun knows something!"

O

To say he was irritated was an understatement.

Today the Detective Boys went to help an old lady they had known for quite some time with her gardening work. Of course, they wanted to bring Conan and Haibara along, but they both had come up with a believable excuse, so they would not have to spend their afternoon crouching amidst the carrot and potato plants.

Instead of the tedious task of plucking weeds, Conan had wanted to bury his nose in a new mystery book for the rest of the afternoon. Some who knew his old self might be surprised that the Sherlock Holmes freak read something else than the adventures of his favorite detective, but Shinichi's preference of reading Conan Doyle had never kept him from reading other books as well.

In fact, he even read fantasy and romance stories, if the premise appealed to him of course.

But all this did hardly matter, especially now, when the loud and shrill chime of the doorbell intruded on his quite reading season. Silently wishing he had chosen the library of the Kudo house to read his book, Conan made his way over to the door rather reluctantly.

He had already expected to find Sonoko, having forgotten about Ran's karate training, inviting her best friend for shopping, but even though he found a teenage girl, it was not the blonde Suzuki heiress.

"Ran-nee…" Conan had already started, only noticing to late that this was not his temporary sister, but his self-proclaimed pupil.

On a second glance, he was quite taken aback that he managed to confuse the girl in front of him, since Ran would never dare to leave the house like this. Not only was her hair in a much worse disarray than usual, but she was also wearing an oversized t-shirt, loose enough to reveal more than most people thought appropriate, and a pair of sloppy sweatpants, making the rather athletic girl look overly skinny.

If Sonoko had seen her like that, she would have dragged the poor brunette off to lecture her on the importance of a stylish outfit. But since he himself was not that knowing in fashion, he instead opted for not addressing it at all.

Correcting himself, he quickly noticed Aoko fidgeting more than usual and her restless expression told him that she was here because of a serious matter. Stepping aside and inviting her in, the two found themselves seated across each other in the agency's office not soon after.

"So, what brings you here, Aoko-neechan?" Conan started, having already fallen out of his childish role and into his new 'Tantei-sensei' one.

The girl opposite of him started to twiddle with her fingers, as she slowly started to speak, "I have made some . . . discoveries at a recent heist. The one about the plane statue"

Conan had of course heard of that one and even read the news article about it, but whatever Aoko was referring to has not manged to rouse the media's interest. Not sure whether this was a good thing or not, he motioned for her to continue.

"You see, after the heist… I found a trail leading to the place where I thought Kid had kept his props for the heist." Aoko explained, appearing really insecure whether she should really tell all of this to Conan, even though the shrunken detective couldn't explain why that might be. It must be something she thought to be either embarrassing or too heavy for Conan to swallow.

"Sadly, I didn't find the props I was hoping for, but Kid was there. . . Just not alone. He was with those guys in black. . .You remember them? They nearly gunned us down."

Of course Conan would remember.

Even in his line of work, he didn't all that often found himself faced with armed criminals, ready to kill everything that stood in their way. He had already suspected that they might were tied to Kid and Aoko had just reinforced his belief.

"The news didn't mention any shootings, so didn't they try to get Kid this time?" he asked, hoping for a reasonable explanation or theory, since it eluded him why they hadn't created such a ruckus the last time.

"No. They definitely would have resorted to shooting again, but Kid managed to scare them off before that by making them believe the police was coming."

This came hardly as a surprise to Conan, who was more than familiar with the thief's knack for illusions and deceptions. Bringing his attention back to Aoko, he waited for the girl to continue.

But the girl went silent once more, only staring down at her hands in her lap as if this had been all she meant to tell him. Being a little disappointed by the not-so interesting story, Conan really wished to go back to his book.

Just when he thought that, Aoko's face changed as she seemed to have made up her mind. Her eyes widened and her lips parted slightly, as if she just realized something that changed her life.

O

When she had first come here, Aoko had not been sure what she should tell Conan.

On the one hand, he was undeniably smart and seemed to have plenty of experience with criminals. On the other hand, he was a grade schooler, barely older than 6 and should not yet experience the dark sides life had to offer.

But when he had opened the door for her and bid her inside, without even asking why she had come around, Aoko knew that he had somehow understood what a serious matter this was for her.

And once she had started her stuttering narrative, she knew that he was the only one who could help her. But even then, she feared his reaction, feared that he would dismiss her idea as ludicrous and unacceptable.

She hated it, hated this feeling of insecurity and helplessness.

What would she do if he were to declare Kid as the worse enemy and demand of her to show no mercy towards him?

Could she still do that?

A few months ago, she would not even have to consider, but would do so more than willingly. But now things were different.

Kid wasn't the symbol of evil and crime anymore, as when he first appeared in her life. Every time she had come close to catching him, she had also learned something about the thief. And with every encounter and every parting, she grew to hate him less and less, until she did not even want to catch him anymore.

Where she first had seen him as an arrogant douche, she now knew that this was merely a mask. Just like all the others that he wore. A mask to fool his audience. Trick them into believing him to be something else than he truly was.

This was what she realized, when she sat on the coach in the agency's office.

"Kid is not just a thief. He is a vigilante!"

Her words were soft, as she whispered them faintly. But in the quietness of the room, they seemed to ring louder than a church's bell.

"What?" was all that Conan answered, his brows furrowed, staring at her in disbelief.

Aoko could not blame him. No sane person would ever consider her stupid idea.

Her chest tightened, forcing her to resort to shallow breathing, as Conan reacted in just the way she feared the most. But despite the feeling of having disappointed him, the feeling of betraying him, she still repeated her words.

"Kid is not just a thief. He is a vigilante!"

Her chest hurt now, and she felt as if her lungs had petrified as Conan still stared her with wide eyes.

Slowly the seconds ticked by, as they both stared at each other, both trying to figure out what the other was thinking.

But eventually, Conan broke his gaze and slacked back against the coach, sighing heavily.

"I hope you have more evidence than just a feeling."

It felt as if somebody had taken a heavy boulder off of Aoko's chest and she breathed in deeply, a warm feeling spreading in her heart.

"Of course, I have!" she declared in relief and started to narrate the whole scene she had observed, not leaving out any detail and even trying to recite the conversation word for word.

It might not seem as if Conan's reaction was important to others. But to Aoko, just the fact that he was ready to listen, showed her that he considered her suggestion at least a bit and this was more than most others have done so far.

* * *

Once she finished her story, Conan grew very silent, starring at the coffee table between them with eyes far too old for his apparent age. To Aoko it seemed as if she could almost see in his eyes what theories his brain was conjecturing and dismissing in fractions of seconds.

Lost in observing the two orbs made of brilliant blue, Aoko only snapped out of her starring when Conan looked back up at her, locking her in his gaze.

He inhaled deeply, as if he readied himself for something, and then voiced the result of his musing.

"I think you're wrong!"

His declaration was firm, his tone hard and cold, yet Aoko felt only a little disappointment.

"I think your theory is wrong. . . At least partially." Conan spoke up a second time, but if it was because he took pity on her or for the theatrical effect, Aoko couldn't tell.

"Why do you think it's wrong or what of it is wrong?"

A twinkle of pride sparkled in Conan's eyes as his lips curled up in something Aoko could only describe as a fond smile. He held that expression for a brief second, before he started to outlay his decision with the usual edge he used during deductions.

"I do believe your story, in fact I already expected something like this to be going on behind the scene, yet it was only speculations. Thanks to you, I now know for sure that the guys in black and Kid are connected, just like you suspected, but I fail to see why Kid should be a vigilante" With his last words he sent a half questioning and half suspecting glance at her, apparently trying to guess what she was thinking.

"While you might be right about those guys in black in that they truly believe in the existence of a stone that grants immortality, they could just be after it because they have a client who pays a lot of money for it. Regardless of which of the two options might be true, they both only incriminate the men in black, but do not speak for Kid at all. In fact, it only incriminates him even more, because he could easily go to the police and present undeniable evidence of the gang in black's existence and objective, since he has confronted them that often."

At this, Aoko could not help but freeze.

Why hasn't she thought of that option?

Now that Conan laid the facts out, it was obvious that Kid was competing with the man in black for the jewels, so how has she come to the conclusion that he must be a vigilant?

"But…why would he announce his heists? Wouldn't that only make him vulnerable to the men in black?"

Conan only lowered his gaze, as if he was disappointed of her theory.

"We don't know whether Kid announces all his heist and it makes perfect sense that he wouldn't. Just consider how many thefts, that remain unsolved, are not attributed to Kid because he hasn't announced them? For a thief with his abilities, it would be easy to steal something without leaving any traces, so why should he deliberately give the element of surprise away?"

With this, Conan raised his head again, sending a challenging look to Aoko to answer those questions.

But Aoko couldn't answer them. In fact, she never considered them before.

Apparently sensing so, Conan went on with his explanation.

"The reason why he announces his heist, is to mislead us. They are just a giant hoax, a red herring!"

Aoko's eyes were as wide as tennis balls by now and it was obvious that she was at a loss for words.

"But…" she began, only for Conan to cut her off as he went on.

"With his heist he gives us false leads and tries to mask his real intentions! Why do you think he only goes for big gems? Maybe because he knows that his target cannot be in a big gem. With the heist, he completely fools the official forces and created an image of himself, portraying him as this friendly, yet eccentric magician. The people love him for that, and the public pressure has led to the police not using guns or tasers against him, effectively minimizing the chances of catching him. So, for Kid those heists are low risk, yet they draw his opponents out into the open and allow the police to catch them, thus eliminating Kid's competitors!"

Halfway through his speech, Conan has stood up from the coach and was now leaning over the table towards Aoko, his loud words pressing her against the back of the couch. His eyes were glaring, burning themselves in Aoko's brain, making her feel like she was a little girl getting scolded by an adult.

Beans of sweat had already formed on Aoko's forehead and she was breathing heavily. _"What is he? What sort of monster is he?"_

But before Aoko had a chance to ponder over this question some more, Conan let himself fall back onto the soft cushion of the couch, now grinning at her with a wide grin.

"I got you Aoko-neechan!"

Understandably, Aoko was in utter confusion, her mind not really processing what just happened. Slowly rising her upper body, getting back up into a sitting position, she only could produce one single word.

"What?"

At this Conan's grin fell a little and his face was now soft and apologetic.

"I'm sorry for this, but if you went to the police with your theory, that is what they would have said. As a matter of fact, I to don't believe Kid steals out of bad motivations, he is much to righteous and careless for that. But I wouldn't go as far as to call him a vigilant. He's just Kid for me."

Conan's grin widened a little before it fell completely off his face and he continued in a more serious tone.

"It's important to listen to your intuition and guts feeling as a detective, but if you want to act, you need solid proof and undeniable facts. No judge is going to let Kid go because you think he is a nice guy and no police officer will drop his gun because the criminal looks innocent. In the harsh reality, only facts matter."

His face lit up again, caring a trace of melancholy, when he spoke his next words.

"Sometimes, you have to cheat a little and make up some proof only to lure the criminal in a trap. But be careful that this false prove doesn't become real."

O

When she left, Conan wasn't sure whether he hadn't been a bit to hard with her. Of course, Aoko was strong willed and could take the blow, but he still felt a little bit guilty when he remembered how she nearly drowned in the pillows in an attempt to get away from him. At that moment, Conan had seen that despite all the things she has learned from him, she still was her old self.

And that was good.

Looking down at his small body, Conan was again painfully reminded of the lesson he had to learn. If he hadn't been an arrogant jerk, if he hadn't thought he could save the world, if he had just a little bit of the self-doubts Aoko had, then he wouldn't be stuck in this pint-sized body.

That's also why he had been so harsh.

At that moment, she had reminded him a lot of himself and of Hattori when they first met. Apparently, every detective was destined to lose focus of what was truly important at least once and he really hoped his little lesson would stick with Aoko.

After all, losing focus of what was important had cost him his old life, at least for now, and he didn't want to see Aoko lose hers too.

Scratching his head, Conan went back to his book, wondering when he had become so attached to the bubbly girl.

O

It was how Conan had predicted it to be.

When Aoko had entrusted her theory to her dad this evening, he had pretty distinctively explained to her that this was absolutely impossible.

'Why should he even steal the jewel if all he wants to do is keep them safe? Wouldn't it be better if he just handed it back to the police immediately?' was only one of the many arguments he knew to bring up and Aoko hadn't even bothered to really fight back.

If she hadn't had her talk with Conan, then she might have found the energy and ideas to reason with her dad, but as things stood now, she quickly admitted defeat and retreated into her room.

What she needed right now was peace and time.

Time to think and plan her next moves.

After all, her objective has changed. Oh, she was still out to confront Kid and get him to explain everything to her, but above that, she now wanted to not let those guys in black get their hands onto the jewels.

So far, Kid had managed to hold them off, but just the fact that the gangsters had shot at and nearly killed her showed her that things have grown over the thief's head.

 _"But how should I fight against those criminals? I don't have any fancy smoke bombs nor near deadly card guns, nor do I have any practice in material arts or with weapons, aside from my trusty mop"_

 _"_ _Maybe I could get Ran-chan to teach me some moves…"_ Aoko mussed, disregarding the thought quickly, when she realized that kicks and punches were strong and all but no match for guns nor gangs, not to mention gangs with guns.

Letting herself fall backwards onto her bed, Aoko snatched her pillow and buried her face in it, muffling a frustrated scream.

There had to be something, ANYTHING she could do to fight those guys, aside from distracting them by running around on the scene of crime. That would only get her killed, if those guys even bothered to aim or at least look at her.

After all, she was no threat to them, so why should they even care.

Suddenly, an idea sprang up in Aoko's mind. An idea, so ludicrous only Kid would be insane enough to even consider it.

But despite that, Aoko couldn't help but grin.

If it was out of anticipation or sheer madness, Aoko didn't know and wouldn't be able to tell later.

But for now, this idea seemed simply too good to pass up.

* * *

By the time the next heist was announced to take place, Aoko had huge trouble not shivering with excitement. When she first had tried to catch Kid, Aoko had been nervous, maybe even a bit frightened.

But over time, she had started to enjoy the heist more and more, till she was now brimming with motivation.

So, it had been no wonder, that first Kaito, then other classmates and even her dad had asked her if she was ill. It had taken some time, but eventually, Aoko managed to convince them all that, despite the random fits of giggles and the cheeky comments she now made sometimes, she was alright, and they didn't have to worry.

Especially Kaito seemed to be rather suspicious about her and did not accept her reasons at all. More so, he continuously nagged her to tell him whatever amused her that much, but it was to no avail.

Maybe that's the reason why he seemed to be a bit grumpy and didn't come to the heist at all, but Aoko didn't mind it. In fact, she was even glad that he chose to stay out of it, so he could not run into those guys in black when he went to meet with Kid.

Of course, she had yet to prove this theory, but so far, no evidence surfaced that would clear Kaito, so Aoko continued to hold on onto the theory.

Putting those thought's aside and saving them for later, Aoko finally arrived at the scene of the heist.

This time, Kid had announced that he would steal a priceless necklace that belonged to the Japanese emperor. The royal family had agreed to put the chain of ivory and jewels imported from all over the world to Japan, on display for a limited time. The piece of art had been a gift to the family from a Spanish bishop, who hoped to gain influence and spread the word of Christ this way.

But despite his intentions, the beautiful pendant displayed no symbols associated with the catholic belief, but was instead designed by a Japanese artist, who carved the seven ivory beads with each containing a different gem.

There was a pink ruby, a black pearl, a piece of tanzanite and huge pink diamond, among others, all enclosed with mythical creatures and coiling dragons made from ivory.

Aside from the obvious financial value, the stone had become an heirloom of the royal family and thus held a considerable historical and political value as well, since it showed the wealth the Japanese emperor once possessed.

And above all else, the necklace was really pretty, as Aoko had to note when she stared at it.

It was impressive that she could still get such a clear view on the jewel considering all the security measures that were in place. To keep the thief away from the artifact, the necklace was sealed inside a ball of the newest cutting-edge glass, said to withstand gunshot's as well as car accidents.

The sphere itself was then enclosed in a slightly bigger case, made from the same indestructible material, but unlike the lockless sphere, the square had a lock that could only be opened with an iris scan of the Emperor's eyes himself. Said Emperor however was not even in Japan at the moment, so it seemed impossible for the thief to break the case open.

This whole contraption was then locked inside a huge case of glass, secured with laser sensors and an automatic retraction mechanism, who would submerge the whole case in the ground itself.

On top of that, various infrared cameras, motion sensors and a ton of police officers were also placed to not even let a fly pass through.

To Aoko, all those things seemed to be a little over the top, since Kid always handed the loot back, but it apparently was a matter of honor and pride for the security team to stop the thief and catch him for the first time.

She doubted that they will manage the second part, but it was always good to dream, even for grown men and women.

Making her way through the huge hall, which was surprisingly empty, most probably because only a small number of people was granted entry, Aoko couldn't help but feeling chills run down her spine when she looked at the strangely decorated room.

It was at least 15 meters (50 feet) tall, but the black marble made an accurate assessment near impossible. Despite that, the chamber was very well lit and even the enormous mass of black rock didn't manage to swallow all the light from the powerful lamps, which were embedded into the walls as long glowing lines.

Before now, Aoko didn't even know that such a room could exist, let alone that the Karasuma Financial Group, who was even bigger and wealthier than the famous Suzuki Group, had constructed such a monster in their own tower.

In fact, the upper most floors were only made to house this beast of a salon, which was only used on rare occasions such as this. The only thing above this huge complex were the private chambers of the CEO and the roof.

At first glance, it must seem like the perfect setup to stop Kid, but Aoko found various flaws pretty quickly. Beginning with the normal and easily crushable glass the first case was made off, ranging to the numbers of people, which were all potential disguises for kid, to the sheer height of the location, all those things made infiltration and escape pretty easy.

But between those two steps, the act of stealing would be very challenging, even for a world-famous thief such as Kid.

This, however, also made Aoko's plan a lot more complicated, since it could only work if Kid managed to get his hands on the necklace, which she now doubted a little.

O

This was bad. Very bad.

Despite his best efforts, Kaito had not managed to gather much intel on the security measures ahead of the heist, so he didn't really know what awaited him, until he stood before this huge behemoth of a security contraption.

Not only was most of it high-tech and relatively unknown to him, whoever came up with this design didn't even intend for anybody to reach the jewel. Even if he could trick them into believing the jewel was gone, if none of them could open the damn box, then there was no way for him to reach it, either.

But panicking would get him nowhere and he knew that very well. So, he started to weight the different options he had and formulate a plan before it was time for his show.

Checking around the room in a careful manner, Kaito payed close attention to not bump into Aoko. Over the course of the last heist, she had not only managed to pick him out of a crowd regardless of his disguises, but she even started to hide the act of recognizing him so well that he couldn't be sure whether she has seen through him or not.

It was bluntly said frightening how fast she learned things and improved herself. Four months ago, Aoko didn't even notice when he followed her around her house for half an hour, but now, she actively sabotaged the tricks he had prepared, before he was able to play them, forcing him to improvise drastically if he didn't want to embarrassingly mess up his tricks.

As much as he had enjoyed the new challenge at first, he had soon started to loath the unknown factor Aoko had become, especially at his heist where he couldn't allow himself to slip up.

But luckily for him, he spotted the girl in question standing next to her dad, seeming to listen intently to the security details. But even though she had her back turned to him, Kaito didn't dare to look at her for more than a brief glance, fearing that she had developed the same being-stared-at sense as Tantei-kun already had.

Continuing his route through the room, Kaito switched his disguises a few times and eventually ended up in front of a door labelled with 'STAFF ONLY. Making sure that nobody watched him, he quickly picked the lock and swiftly vanished behind said door.

A moment later, he had already climbed the ladder to the roof and now crouched in a dark corner, listening for anything. At first it appeared as if there was nothing, but then Kaito heard faintly something, that sounded as if you would rub a piece of sturdy fabric on a rock.

Carefully making his way over towards the noise, Kaito payed special attention to not making a single sound and soon enough, he found the source of the noise.

It was a man, clad in dark clothing, laying on his belly, with a sniper rifle in both hands. Barely Kaito could make out the little earpiece with a microphone attached to it, as well as the lined up spare magazines for the modern-looking rifle.

 _"_ _Snake's men!"_ the young magician realized, swallowing a curse. He had hoped they wouldn't attend the heist out of fear for all the security measures, but apparently, they didn't have any trouble getting through them.

 _"Strange, how can the guards let a guy in here with a freaking rifle? That's not something you would miss… maybe they have a man on the inside. That would at least explain how they slip past the guards."_

But now was not the time to ponder over this, so Kaito quickly shoved the thoughts aside and was about to approach the criminal and put him to sleep, when the man suddenly responded to a command over the transmitter.

"Viper 3, no unusual sightings so far."

This made Kaito freeze, his hands already in his pockets to get a sleep bomb. If this guy reported to somebody, then it would immediately rose suspicion if he was no longer answering, but he couldn't leave him lurking out here either.

Contemplating what his best course of action might be, Kaito soon realized that there was only one way for him to get rid of the guy, without getting rid of him directly. But for that, he had to distract him in a way that he would not deem as worthy to report back.

After some time, Kaito had formulated a plan. A really risky and infinitely dangerous plan, but a doable plan, nonetheless.

Slowly creeping towards his victim, Kaito was always ready to jump away, should anything happen. He was now right beside the killer and if he reached out a little, he could pat the snipers head. Thanks to his luck, the man was already scanning the surroundings again with one eye closed while the other was pressed against the scope, so he wouldn't see Kaito's movements.

Slowly the magician moved his hand, brought it closer and closer toward the black bearded head and then finally jammed the nail he had picked up into the hole.

Of course, it was neither the man's ears nor his nose, but the gun's receiver, effectively blocking the weapon from firing. This was no permanent solution, but the confusion as to why the gun didn't fire along with the time it took to find the error would give Kaito some valuable seconds that could save his life.

Carefully but as fast as he dared, the young thief retreated back to the hatch, which lead back down into the exhibition hall and swiftly climbed it down, leaving everything how he had found it plus some things extra he might need for his trick.

 _"But surely this is not the only sniper that's laying in ambush, so I should try to avoid using an aerial route!"_

When he was finally back in the relative safety of a room filled with police officers, and that had to mean something, Kaito had only one thing left to check.

Looking around again for Aoko, he was pleasantly surprised when he couldn't spot her anywhere near the huge table, which the task force had littered with blueprints of the building and other important information.

Quickly disguising himself as an uninteresting policeman, he strolled towards the table and casually paused right beside it, seeming as if he was searching for anything suspicious in the crowd.

In fact, he was analysing the outlaid information as quickly as he could and tried to memorize everything he saw. His eyes darted over shift plans, evacuation protocols and then settled on a huge blueprint of this very room, he was in.

His eyes widened by a fraction and a little smile slip on his face, but those were only small signs of the giant excitement he felt for making this discovery.

Turning away from the table, Kaito lowered his head to hide the grin, which now bloomed on his face, as he vanished back into the crowd of people.

 _"This is perfect! Now the heist can begin"_

O

Aoko was rarely confident in catching Kid and especially when the security was as tight as today, Kid would always wipe out the most unpredictable plans.

But for this heist it was different.

As usual Aoko had adapted the mindset of a thief to the best of her abilities, but even when she disregarded a number of limiting factors such as time and risk of getting found out, the only way how she could imagine Kid cracking the sphere containing the jewels was when he threw it, along with the rest of the security system, out of the window and let it crash on the ground.

But this would certainly not happen, since it would endanger numerous pedestrians and Aoko was not even sure if the ball of special glass would break from this fall.

However, if she had learned one thing from Kid, then it was that no system was perfect and that there had to be a way to crack this too.

She tried to think of anything that she hasn't mentally tried so far, but to no avail. Even worse, when she glanced at her watch, she realized that there were only around 15 Minutes left till the thief would arrive. 15 minutes and she didn't even have an idea what he might try.

And it made her feel helpless and useless.

And this in turn frustrated her.

She had worked hard, had submitted a lot of her time to learning from Conan and study Kid, only to now let him get away again.

Her stomach twisted as desperation started to emerge in her mind.

 _"I can't afford to lose. Not again."_

 _ **The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.**_

For a moment, Aoko's mind just seemed to stop, to shut down completely, only this quote floating there as if it was printed on paper.

The words seemed so familiar, so well known, yet her brain failed to provide the context she was searching for.

Finally, after what felt like an hour, but could barely have been more than a few seconds, it all came back to her.

"Sherlock Holmes"she whispered softly, ultimately recalling the one-liner she had read in 'The Sign of Four'. Normally, Aoko was not in the habit to read mysteries, let alone such that were over 50 years old. But since Conan had spoken so fondly of the fictional mastermind in their study sessions and had made countless references to the Londoner detective, Aoko had decided to give it a try.

At first, she has had a hard time understanding the complex grammar and old English, but after a while she managed to unravel most of the intricate sentences, allowing her to finish the book in a week. But unlike her little sensei, Aoko could not claim that it was her new favorite piece of literature, since the story lacked the most essential part of a good detective story.

In her eyes, the book had failed to teach the art of deduction to the reader, since a lot of the mysteries in it were simply not solvable for the reader, because there was not enough evidence given.

All in all, the book hadn't been bad, but it was not a story that would stay carved in her mind.

That was aside from this one quote, that now had surfaced again and with it came a wave of what Aoko could only describe as cold logic.

All the doubts, all the pressure was swept away and replaced with emptiness and calmness.

But this state of silent nothingness only lasted for a second, because soon after, it was filled with every piece of evidence she had, only to be taken apart.

 _"There are no air vents big enough to fit through in this room, the locks are without keys and the necklace is enclosed in a solid sphere, so what does Kid need to get the jewel? Heavy machinery, a lot of time or a very strong impact. There is no way he can bring a heavy machine in here and without it, it will be hard to produce a strong enough force, so the only way for him to crack the security barriers is, if he has enough time to slowly tear them down."_

 _"But time is exactly what he does not have, not with all the police officers in the room and since he can't divert their attention long enough, he must somehow get the jewel away from here so he can open its case."_

Suddenly, a thought struck her and Aoko immediately hurried back to the table where the blueprints of the building were laid out. Ignoring the stares, she got when she franticly searched through the pile of papers only to tear out a huge sheet, showing the blueprint of this very room.

Her eyes darted over it, searching for the one thing that could allow Kid to get away together with the jewel.

And there she found it.

 _"Undoubtably! That is the only way Kid can win todays heist!"_

And with that thought in mind, she sharply turned on her heel, staring right in her father's face and started to lay out the unmistakable facts.

O

The audience was present and merry, the trick set and ready to be executed, the magician in place and the clock's hands were showing 10 pm.

 _"And now the curtain rises!"_

With that, a sudden cloud of smoke exploded in the midst of the gathered crowd and only grew in size till it swallowed nearly the whole room.

But the police had been ready for this and so it didn't take long till the ventilation system was switched to highest gear and sucked the smoke out of the room.

However, as the air was clear again, there was no white, fluttering cape and no cheeky grin. Confused shouts and calls could be heard as everybody looked around in the room to find the elusive magician, but no one could spot him.

Chuckling to himself about all the policemen who were running through the room like headless chickens, Kaito decided that he has let them hang, and himself too, for long enough.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! I welcome you to today's magic show, where I will show you the exquisite view when you bring the sun into the abyss. I do though hope that you have not neglected to bring your sunglasses along or else you won't be able to appreciate the marvelous view"

Kid's usual one liner had normally a very exiting effect on his audience, but this time around, the confusion upon not seeing the thief, even though his voice echoed through the room, must have stunned quite a number of people. Only Inspector Nakamori was not one to be dazzled by such trifle and through the silence of the room, his voice seemed all the louder.

"KID! Get your bloody ass down hear or I will personally come and get you!"

Kaito wondered how anyone, including Nakamori himself, could take the inspector serious when he was spinning around like a dog chasing his own tell in an attempt to locate his nemesis.

"Oh my, inspector Nakamori, have you been taking ballet lessons? I would have expected such a hobby to arouse the interest of your daughter, rather than yours, but I am not one to judge"

In fact, Kaito could absolutely NOT imagine Aoko taking ballet lessons or even dance lessons for that matter. Not that she would be bad at it or anything similar, but gracious movements in rhythmic succession just were not something she would stick to. Maybe break-dance and head spinning would be more in her line, but even that seemed doubtful for Kaito.

Regardless of that, the magician had already kept his audience on the tenterhooks for long enough and so, it was now time to reveal his trick.

It took no more than a simple press on the switch and the room was flooded with bright, light, coming through the windows and even the black walls weren't enough to dim its blinding effect. Obviously, none of the guest had brought any sort of eye protection to an event in the dead of night and thus, the room was filled with screams and shouts from people who were pressing their hands over the eyes to shield them from the blinding radiance.

Neither the police nor the security guards had thought of something like this, a fact that filled Kaito with pleasant satisfaction, as he prepared the second part of the trick.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, was the light a little too bright for your vulnerable eyes. Let me quickly get rid of this horrible light and this big sparkling object in its horrible case of glass. Such cruelty to assault such poor and brave policemen with light. I'm truly speechless."

As his last words rung through the room once again, most of the people registered not only that he would turn the lights off, but that he would take the necklace away too, which provoked a prompt answer from Nakamori, who was stumbling blindly through the crowd.

"KID! Don't dare to touch the necklace! This stone was entrusted to my protection! MY protection, you hear?!"

"Oh, my dear inspector, I doubt you could even protect it if it is chained to your ankle. But I have already overdrawn my time schedule, so I'll be taking my leave for now. Beware of the loud noise, sadly the teleportation of huge object's doesn't work without it."

And with that, the room went dark for a few seconds, before a loud screeching as if twisting metal roared through the room.

When the sound had quieted down, all that was left to hear was the constant beeping of the motions sensor's alarm, indicating that something has moved on the glass case. But unlike the crowd has expected, the thing that moved wasn't on the glass case, but the glass case itself.

It just vanished, only leaving behind the smooth flat surface of the black marble floor.

O

She had known it!

The moment the thief started to talk about light, she had instantly taken out the special glasses Conan had given her. Apparently, a scientist he knows has made them and even though they looked like normal sunglasses, they were able to dim every flash, be it as bright as the sun.

Thanks to that, she wasn't even bothered by Kid's light show and instead crouched low and pretended to press her hands over her eyes, just to not give herself away.

Apparently, it did fool Kid, who didn't even bother to look at her for more than a second, before he went on about how sorry he was.

 _"As if your sorry at all. You ass!"_ Aoko snarled in her head, not realizing that Kid had deliberately adjusted the lights in a way to not inflict any lasting damage to the gathered people.

But instead of that, Aoko was fairly sure to know what the thief was planning next and her suspicions were proven when a figure, hidden underneath a black blanket peeled off the roof, right over the glass case.

Not even paying attention to his words anymore, Aoko sprinted towards the glass case, even before she saw how the thief let himself fall down, after he threw something else down first.

The little object, a metal ball as it appeared, smashed the normal glass easily, but then bounced off the special glass the cube was made of. Slightly before this happened however, the infernal noise filled the room, completely swallowing any trace of the glass breaking or the motion sensor's beeping, and Aoko had to press her hands on her ears as she charged forward.

Only moments before she reached the rope fence intended to keep the guest at bay, Kid himself landed on the glass cube and Aoko thought she saw a spike of some sort at attached to his heal. This must have been true since the cube's upper glass panel gave way with a loud, shattering sound.

Just after Kid's landing, the system realized that the outer glass cube has been breached and initialized the automatic retraction mechanism, causing the whole pedestal to rapidly sink into the ground. Kid himself, who was now crouched over the shattered special glass cube, would have no problem being swallowed together with the whole contraption, but for at Aoko it was a close call.

Only thanks to a desperate lunge at the end of her sprint, she managed to squeeze through the closing slide hatch, without her leg or foot getting crushed by the hydraulic system.

However, the only thing she hadn't really thought through was how she would land after her jump and before she could even come up with a vague idea, what would happen, she already crashed into someone's back, hidden under white fabric.

* * *

 _All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment._

 _Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part._

 _Hope you liked the chapter and till next time._

 _Farewell_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When something had unexpectedly crashed on his back, even though that was not foreseen in his plan, Kaito's immediate urge was to get whatever it was that had pounced on him off. So, he swiftly twisted his upper body as much as he could, pushed off the assailant and used the force of his own push to launch his body in the other corner of the broken glass cube.

Since Kaito had initiated that move himself, he could avoid crashing into the transportation shaft's wall, his opponent however hadn't expected such a rash movement and thus smashed hard into the wall.

"Argh!"

And that outcry was all it took for Kaito to nearly fall back into the role of loyal childhood friend and rush to Aoko's side, but he was able to suppress the protective urge in time, staying rooted in place and starring at the girl who was now rubbing her sore back.

" _Aoko?!_ " Kaito nearly ejaculated and he didn't even try to mask the apparent surprise, that shone through the infamous poker face.

He had suspected, even expected Aoko to be the first one to figure out how he had escape AFTER the heist was over. But that damned clever, yet insanely reckless girl had not only figured out his plan before he came around to use it, but she had also decided that throwing herself after the thief down a transportation shaft was the best course of action.

 _"Has she completely lost her mind?!"_

Kaito couldn't help but ask as he still stared at the girl in front of him, who was now looking around in the room as if she was searching for something or somebody and Kaito expected her to launch herself at him as soon as she saw him.

Instead, Aoko slowly retreated into a corner, apparently not caring for the cold steel walls that were now running up the back of her shirt. Drawing her knees towards her, Aoko additionally slung her arms around them and continued to peer into the dark with an almost frightened look.

That was when Kaito understood.

 _"She can't see me! Oh, I'm such a moron, it's nearly pitch-black in here and she has no monocle with night-vision feature!"_

He slapped his hand over his face at his own stupidity and the resulting sound echoed in the metal tunnel, drawing Aoko's attention. But, thanks to the echo, she couldn't pinpoint his location and so her head spun around searchingly.

"Kid?! Are you there?"

The call nearly ripped Kaito's heart apart, since the whimper sounded as if it would come straight from an abandoned puppy and that was exactly how lost she looked. Aoko was normally not one to be afraid of the dark, but Kaito could hardly blame her, when she was trapped with a criminal in a sealed of metal box and couldn't even see what the other party was doing.

Unable to see her frightened like that any longer, Kaito finally spoke up.

O

 _"What a stupid plan!"_

It was strange how the voice scolding Aoko in her head sounded an awful lot like Conan. In fact, Conan often sounded like this, mostly when he is debating with somebody and didn't try to make a secret out of the fact that he deemed the other as stupid.

And right now, Aoko definitely had been stupid.

Looking back, what has she even expected to happen after she had followed the thief? That was the question Aoko tried to answer desperately, mostly in an attempt to dispel the fear she was feeling right now, but deep inside of her, she knew that there had been no plan for after she jumped through the sliding hatch.

Realizing that she had no clue what do to now, the young girl was no longer able to fight off her own fear and soon she thought she faintly saw and heard things move in the dark. Scrambling to get away from them, Aoko was soon trapped in a corner, still not able to make out anything.

 _"Why hasn't Conan also given me night-vision googles!"_

But just as she was thinking that, a rather loud, slap-like sound echoed through the dark and Aoko immediately tried to make out where it came from. But thanks to the resonating echo from the metal walls, it was to no avail and so, she was left with only one option.

Slowly, she parted her lips and softly called into the dark, called for a person to save her.

"Kid?! Are you there?"

If one were to ask her later why she called for Kid, then she would doubtlessly say that he was the only person that could have been in there.

In fact, however, she didn't know why she called for him herself.

"Ah, fancy meeting you down here. I already feared you wouldn't manage to trump another one of my amazing tricks with a stunt as insanely as this." came the snarky response out of the dark and a huge portion of fear vanished much like the darkness, now that Kid also lit a flashlight.

For some reason, Aoko found it odd to see the thief carry one around. She had more expected that he would use a different source of light. More something like a glow stick, in a bright and flamboyant pink.

But that hardly mattered now that she could see not his infamous grin, but a rather annoyed expression on his face. Despite less than favorable circumstances they found themselves in, Aoko couldn't help but feeling irked for some reason.

Unable to prevent a similar expression from sneaking on her face, she completely forgot her fear from before and the relief that washed over her, when he suddenly appeared in the dark.

"What do you mean by insanely? Why should you be the only one allowed to be reckless at times?"

"Being reckless is one thing but jumping down a more than 30 floor high shaft, without any way of stopping or even slowing down the fall is definitely qualifies as insane!"

"Oh, so putting your life at stake to steal some potentially mythical, but more-likely fantastic stone that might possibly grant immortality is just reckless? I'm so sorry for worrying you, but as you see, I'm fine and kicking." Aoko shot back, furious enough to completely overlook the implication that he maybe was worried for her safety.

Heaving a heavy sigh, while shaking his head slowly, the thief now stood up, "I would love to continue this discussion with you, though I'm afraid we will have to do it later. We will soon reach the end of this comfortable elevator and I'm sure my 'friends' will be waiting there for us. Since we both want to survive today, let's call it a truce and work together to escape safely, shouldn't we?"

Since the air quotes Kid made, left no doubt as to who would wait for them and Aoko was really not keen on leaving this world just yet, she quickly nodded her head had and thus agreed.

"But what will you do about the gem? After all, we can't leave it to them or else they'll never return it!"

"Good to hear that our cooperation has already reached the point where you use the word 'we'." Kid declared, while shooting an amused and taunting look at her, which made Aoko blush a little.

"But I'm not planning on leaving the stone behind, so would you be good enough to carry the sphere?"

Aoko had expected a lot of crazy plans, even such which involved them dressing up as men in black and blending in into their group, but not that he would ask her to help him steal. "Have you lost your mind?! Why should I help you steal the jewel?"

But Kid merely shrugged, "If you prefer them stealing the jewel than me, go ahead and leave it behind. But I just wanted to point out that it's rather hard to steal a big ball from you without you noticing. That is unless you have a mental condition…?"

At this, Aoko gritted her teeth and starred daggers at the magician, but in his mind, she knew that he was right "I hate to admit it, but his plan is probably the best we have for now. But just you wait Kid, I'm going to make sure that you won't get your fifthly hands on the stone ever again!"

"Ok, I will carry the ball. But keep in mind that, if they get me, they'll also get the stone, so you better make sure that nothing happens to me!"

Sending her a smile brimming with confidence, Kid made an elegant bow "As you command by fragile princess, now if you would please crouch here, jump down from the podium and hide behind it as soon as you can. We are nearly there."

"I'm not your princess!" Aoko yelled back, but followed his instruction, hiding behind his wide-spread cape.

The pedestal still descended and moments afterwards, a small slit of light appeared in front of Aoko, making adrenaline rush through every fiber of her body.

Now it counted.

O

When Kaito normally had his face offs with Snake and his bunch of crooks, he was not really anxious, nor did he fear them. Of course, he was more at ease if they weren't around, but since he mostly always had the jewel with him and was standing near a cliff or ledge, they could not just shoot him.

But this time it was different.

Not only was he trapped underneath the tons of earth and stone, but on top of that he wasn't alone.

And Kaito would be damned if he let anything happen to Aoko, so, this time, he didn't even wait for Snake to see him, before he threw down a handful of smoke bombs at the same time.

Apparently, his enemies had expected the thief to show off as usual and thus, were completely taken by surprise, when they were greeted by a cloud of thick black smoke. The fog was so dense that their flashlights were rendered useless and the resulting lack of vision caused a lot of them to move backwards to get out of the cloud.

But this proved to be a big mistake, as they were suddenly swooped off their feet by a threat and while the group of men were still busy getting up, a shadow came over them, moving as fast as lightning among them, snatching their guns away and spraying their faces with the most different kinds of colored smoke.

Snake himself had not retreated as hastily and thus didn't end up on the floor nor did he lose his gun, but since this meant that he was still standing inside the fog, he could only hear the panicked screams of his henchmen, as they shoot towards the exit, one more colorful than the other, while a few of their comrades were left behind, rendered unconscious by sleeping gas.

By the time the smoke had cleared up a little, Snake was all alone in the huge storage hall, only seeing stacks of huge, wooden boxes filled with whatever the owner deemed necessary.

"KID" the criminal bellowed into the empty room, his voice not filled with fear or caution but rage and hatred, "SHOW YOURSELF! OR DO I HAVE TO COME AND FIND YOU?"

Of course, Kaito could not allow that, since he couldn't risk Snake wandering off and stumbling over Aoko. This would spell certain death for her.

So, he had to lure him away and allow Aoko to escape safely.

Constructing a plan in a mere second, Kaito immediately set it into motion, dashing from cover to cover while deliberately making his steps echo through the hall. After he was certain that Snake had heard him, he took a sharp turn and rushed off deeper into the seemingly endless storage unite.

Praying that the hot-tempered criminal would follow him, Kaito could stop worrying about Aoko, so much so that he lost track of where he exactly going.

Luckily Snake lost no time to follow him, as was evident by the thundering footsteps, but unluckily, Kaito had to experience that no room, may it appear as big as it wants to, was truly endless. He immediately whirled around to leave the narrow alley between the stacks of boxes to get out of the dead-end he had maneuvered himself into, but it was already too late.

Showing a murderous grin, eyes sparkling dangerously from underneath the rime of the black Fedora, Snake now slowly approached him with utmost confidence that the thief could escape no longer. He was so certain of himself, that he didn't even aim the gun at Kaito, a fatal error as Kaito though but in truth he had no other way out, except for the entrance blocked by Snake.

"So, the dove has finally lost it's wings, now hand over the jewel and I promise you, your death will be painless."

"Charming as ever, though what makes you so sure that my wings were clipped?" Kaito retorted, diverting Snakes attention from his hand feeling in his pockets for the smoke bombs. But in his worry over Aoko's well-being, he had already used them all up didn't think of bringing flash-bombs along when he had floating flair-units, with him.

Those, however, he had used up too, when he had lightened up the whole exhibition room earlier this evening.

"Oh, are you out of ammo?" Snake asked in a mockingly caring tone, which send shiver down Kaito's spine. Apparently, he hadn't managed to keep his poker face in place, or the criminal was a lot more observant than Kaito ever gave him credit for.

"Do you really believe I rely on ammo like you do? Magic is an infinite resource so I wouldn't worry about that."

"Is that so? Then show me this magic and dodge this bullet!"

BANG

Kaito could barely hold back a cry, as the bullet tore a deep wound in his upper arm. It was clearly not meant as a deadly shoot, since the utter delight that now showed on Snakes face clearly portrait that he enjoyed the magician's suffering.

"Yes, that's it. Try to keep in your screams. Hold them back! This will only make it so much more enjoyable to break you! You already denied me that pleasure once before, so I will savour it now even more!"

He raised his gun again, this time pointing at Kaito's leg and the twisted smile on his face only stretched wider.

BANG

This time a loud yell echoed thought the room, but it wasn't one of pain or agony, but surprise instead.

Kaito could only stare with his eyes wide opened as Snake knees gave in and the man fell forward, his hands wandering up to his face, as he sank down on the floor.

Behind him stood Aoko.

A fire extinguisher in her hands.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HURRY UP!" she yelled at him, and it took Kaito only seconds before he realized the situation and sprinted past the silent form of Snake on the floor, all the while clutching his still bleeding arm, trying to keep the blood from spilling on the floor.

O

When the smoke had cleared and Aoko was faced with the sight of a bunch of unconscious men, clad in black trench coats but a lot more colorful than earlier, lying on the floor and no Kid anywhere to be seen.

But her immediate confusion quickly cleared as she heard gunshots ring through the huge halls, interrupting the steady staccato of two pairs of footsteps, one loud and booming, the other quieted and lighter.

At this point, every rational nerve in her body screamed at her to get the hell away and call her dad, but before she could even look for an exit, her feet had already started to run her deeper into the storage complex.

Following the shots and footsteps, she soon found what she was searching for when she rounded another corner. Despite the huge, black bulk of a man that blocked her view, the first thing she saw still was the whiteness of Kids, cape and only afterwards did she realize the huge danger.

Somehow feeling that Kid was in danger and needed her help, she immediately looked around for anything usable and soon saw the fire extinguisher at a wall next to her. Setting down the glass sphere as silently as she could, Aoko then reached the red piece of metal with a few steps.

But before she could grab it, a loud bang made her flinch and as she turned her head, she was severely shocked to see Kid clutching his bloody arm, the red liquid spreading on the white fabric like a deadly disease.

Blood started to rush through her head and in moments she had the round, red metal cylinder in hands and was already hurrying towards the man in black, her steps unusually silent, despite her rash speed.

She could barely register how he laughed, could barely see how he aimed his gun anew, before she brought down the heavy chunk of metal on his head.

The resulting bang was loud and jarring, but only the plump sound of a man falling to the ground snapped Aoko out of her thought.

A second seemed to last forever, as she looked at the now nonmoving form of the man on the floor, a faint trickle of blood now coming out from under his fedora.

Next, she looked up.

Looked at the world-famous gentlemen of thieves, capable of clouding the clearest minds in whole Japan, now backing against a wall, his arm smeared with his own blood, eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and fear.

It seemed like an eternity, but he finally lifted his eyes from the body of Snake and looked at her.

And in this moment, she knew what to do!

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! HURRY UP!" she yelled at him, and it took him only seconds before he realized the desperate situation and sprinted past the silent form of Snake on the floor, all the while desperately clutching his still bleeding arm, trying to keep the blood from spilling on the floor.

That he was still able to care about this potential evidence surprised Aoko, but it also just showed what he had to go through and what he had to learn in order to survive.

She picked up the sphere containing the gem and as soon as he reached her, they both sprinted down through a corridor of boxes, Kid now taking the lead again, maneuvering them through the maze of crates.

Despite the lack of words, they both knew that they had to hurry, since Snakes henchman could come back any time with backup or the gangster boss himself would awake.

But thankfully, they managed to reach the corridor Kaito lead them to, which lead up to a metal door. Behind it, was the car parking areal and Kaito unerringly made his way over towards the garbage bins in the corner, something that didn't surprise Aoko as much as it should have.

With a swift movement, one that she wouldn't have though him capable of with his injury, Kaito grabbed out a garbage bag and dragged it out in the open. In the next moment, a grin split his face as he looked back at her.

"Care to go on a date?"

Aoko barely managed an incredulously squeak before the thief already threw a blanket over both of them, taking away her sight with the flash of a silk blue sheet. In the next moment she barely felt how fabric was being shifted and a hand once spun her around and then the whole spook was over and the blanket was lifted again.

Just about to complain about the thief's impolite behavior, the words were stuck in her throat when not the magician in white stood before her, but a man in his late twenties, with a square jaw and a marvelous mustache.

Looking up into the brown eyes, Aoko also noted that he was noticeably taller that Kid had been and even his shoulders were a lot broader than those of the moonlight jester. Only the injured arm was something Kid had apartment trouble to hide, since he let it rest in a sling.

While she was still staring up at him, the now-stranger raised his uninjured hand and held it out towards her.

"Will you follow me in this scheme of illusion and trickery?", came the usual cocky and arrogant voice of Kid, but Aoko could also hear a hint of relief in it.

Extending her own hand, laying it lightly into the rough palm of her companion, Aoko nodded slowly, with a small smile on her lips and thus signaled him her cooperation.

Casually putting an arm around Aoko's shoulder, Kid turned them around and they slowly made their way towards the street, just as a police van halted with screeching tires in front of them and a bunch of men clad in uniforms sprang out of the back.

"Kid still has the gem and will likely try to escape. Search the area and don't let him get away!" a slightly bulkier man yelled, and his fellow officers immediately scrambled in all directions, some steering directly towards Kid and Aoko.

A wave of relief flooded Aoko and she was about to take a step toward the man and tell him about the criminals in the storage room, but as she lifted her foot, Kid pulled her back, keeping her close.

Annoyed she wanted to ask his what he intended to do, but before she could turn her head, he already started to let his weight rest on her shoulders, using her to steady himself.

But Kid definitely didn't need any support, that much was clear when he suddenly began to whisper in hushed but sharp tones.

"He's one of Snakes men! A criminal!"

At first, Aoko was tempted to laugh since it sounded like a joke, but from the serious tone and the fool play Kid had started to act, she knew that this time he hadn't made a joke.

Sparring a questioning glance towards him, she had not time to ask, since the officer had already stopped in front of them.

"Excuse me, we're from the police, Division 2 for theft and thievery, dispatched to catch Kaito Kid. Have you seen him coming through her?"

If she didn't believe Kid before every doubt was now flung out of the window.

 _"Division 2? Dispatched to catch Kid! That's the squad of Dad, but I'm sure I haven't seen this guy there before!"_

Briefly she contemplated, whether he could be a new, but quickly discarded that thought, since she didn't recognize any of the other officers than came out of the van and the Kaito Kid squad was already so numerous that the police chief surely would put new officers into other Divisions.

Apart from that, Kids body spoke a clear language and he had fought those guys a lot by now, so he surely wouldn't be mistaken.

"Kaito Kid? No, I can't remember to have seen him. Did you see anything?" Aoko spoke, trying to make her voice sound inquiring yet calm, as she directed the question towards Kid.

"Can't say I have. But we've only just now come out of the restaurant, so he could very well have passed through here." Kid answered, his voice deep and masculine, perfectly fitting to his disguise.

That reminded Aoko that she probably did wear a disguise herself, yet she hadn't thought of that yet and so she didn't check. Filling this information away for later, she now brought her attention back on the apparent policeman who seemed to buy their story.

"I see. In that case, I'm sorry to have troubled you. Have a safe trip and keep an eye out on the little one."

With that he made his way past them and entered the building, leaving behind a confused Aoko.

 _"The little one? Who on earth does he mean?"_

She was still pondering that question, while Kid steered her to a waiting taxi, helping her inside, since this wasn't easy with her round belly.

 _"ROUND BELLY!?"_

Aoko suddenly realized, touching the huge ball in the middle of her torso, to make sure that it was really there.

To her big surprise, the sphere was not only real, but rather hard and as she gently poked it, it made a hollow sound.

But before she could explore any further what Kid had shoved under her clothes, said thief gently took her hand away.

With a twinkle in his eyes and a mischievous smile, he spoke, "Don't disturbed the baby. After all, she is our gem!"

* * *

"You could at least have told me about my sudden pregnancy!"

Aoko was furious. That thief really had the nerves to not only undress her, no, he even dared to hide his stolen good on her body and pass it of as a child wish!

And now he was grinning so silly at her that she just wanted to punch him in the face.

"I didn't have a chance to tell you. Besides, who would want to spoil this surprise?"

"Surprise?! Since when can pregnancies in the seventh month be surprising for the mother?!"

"You know it wasn't a real pregnancy… but if you truly want a child, you'll have to ask somebody else. Can't risk my DNA getting in there" the thief said, while gesturing with a gloved hand at her lower body.

"That's rude! And very ungentlemanly, if I may say so!"

They had argued like this during the whole ride, each of them pointing out the embarrassing moments of the other. Quarreling who had saved who and who owned what to how.

There bickering seemed so strangely familiar to Aoko, but she blamed it Kid's profession of a magician that he was so similar to Kaito and on street they currently walked down, since she used it regularly when she walked to school. Mostly, together with Kaito.

Out of precaution, Kid had led the taxi not directly to the Nakamori house, but to her high school instead, as to not let anybody trace it back to her. Why he knew where she went to school or lived, was beyond Aoko.

But she assumed that that information came up when Kid investigated her father, to properly imitate him, if need should be.

After all, as much as she had come to regard him as not so bad in the last weeks, he was still a professional criminal.

 _"Even though, he can't have done this for very long. He surely isn't older than 20. Not from what I've seen today"_

Contemplating, whether she should ask him discreetly, Aoko's thoughts were interrupted as Kid spoke up.

"And here we are." he declared, as they now stood in front of the Nakamori house, "Hope you had an enchanting evening, but I would kindly ask you not to repeat today's events. Next time, I might not be there to save your pretty face."

Ignoring the compliment, Aoko narrowed her eyes at him, "If I recall correctly, you were the one who was shot, not me."

"Yes, but I would never had maneuvered myself in such a position if I didn't have to lure them away from you."

That much was true, but Aoko didn't feel like letting the thief win this argument. After all, he made it sound as if it was her fault only.

"I didn't ask you to lure them away. I would have been perfectly capable of sneaking away, if you told me what you were going to do, instead of sneaking around in the dark!"

"Oh, so you say that I should have put my trust in you? The daughter of the man who wants to catch me!"

For some odd reason, this had stung. She expected to be at least a little trustworthy, after they had fought for their survival this evening. But apparently, Kid saw enemies wherever he looked and that thought made Aoko sad.

 _"Somebody like him shouldn't fight criminals. He should go to school, hang out with his friends and do naughty stuff, like peeping in the girls' locker room."_

It was the same with Conan. While she admired his skill, his knowledge and his wits, she also felt pity for him. Pity that the young boy had to go through all of this, that he was involved in crimes all the time. Sure, he had his friends, but for some reason, he still looked like he was lonely.

Lonely and lost.

And apparently, it was the same with Kid.

She would have continued to swell on this train of thoughts, if not for Kid's sudden interruption.

"Okay, … what is happening now? Why do you look at me with those eyes and why are you crying?"

For a second, Aoko didn't believe what he said, but as she brought her hand up to her cheek, she felt a wet trail on it. Similarly bewildered like he must have been, Aoko only unbelieving starred at her wet fingertips.

 _"Why am I crying?"_

She didn't know.

And neither did Kid, but apparently, he thought he knew.

"Listen…" he started, scratching the back of his head in uncertainty while the brim of his hat shadowed his eyes, "I'm sorry for what happened today and I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you better. But above all I'm sorry, for what I'm going to say now: **stay away from future heists!** "

I know how much catching me means to you, but if you continue as you do now you will just get yourself killed. Do what Tantei-kun did and watch from the side-lines. Or else, it won't be safe for you."

Those last words, he spoke with so much sincerity and worry, that Aoko doubted for a moment that he really was Kid. The thief, while always being concerned with the well-being of his fans and critics, has never expressed anything like this.

He always did his best to keep everybody safe, but she never would have expected him to ask somebody like this.

 _"It's almost as if he was begging."_

O

Kaito was worried.

Aoko hadn't answered to his pledge for the last minute, only standing there staring holes into the air before his face.

 _"She probably needs some time for herself right now. After all, tonight must have been like a Deja Vue of a trauma for her."_

Silently, he turned around and walked with rash but silent steps away. Leaving her to herself.

Only when he was around the block corner he dared to stop.

 _"What a fool I have been! To think that Aoko would just give up after last time. Of course, she would charge after me! And of course, she would be stubborn enough to chase me down that hole!_

 _Gosh, there had to be other options! I could have simply cracked the windows and flew with my hang glider. The snipers would have been less of a risk than this."_

Fury overtook him.

Fury at himself, for being so stupid, so weak and so soft when it came to Aoko.

In retrospective, he should have knocked her out at the start of the heist. Make her fall asleep so she couldn't run in her doom. He had done the same with Conan before, so why hadn't he dared to put Aoko to sleep.

 _"Because you love her that's why. It is obvious that you should have made her quite long ago. How stupid could you have been, to risk her safety, just for the little thrill and the excitement of having somebody close on your heels. What are you? An adrenaline junkie?"_

The voice in his head was merciless.

And as much as he wanted to squash it and shove it away, he knew that it was right. He had risked too much, just for a small challenge.

 _"Kid is no children's role to play! I should have known better."_

But he also knew, that there was no sense in dwelling on his mistakes any longer. He just had to make sure that Aoko wouldn't attend a heist ever again. And for that, he only knew one way of doing so.

It pained him to do it, since he knew how much it meant to her to be able to do something. To not just sit there and wait.

Wait for her father to come home.

Wait for him to come back.

 _"That idiot… that stupid, caring idiot."_

Conviction now took over. He could not afford to lose her. Not like he lost his dad.

She may hate him for the rest of her life for it, but it was for her best.

Determined, Kaito marched to the secret entrance to his Kid's secret hideaway.

He had a private letter to write!

O

"He is gone…"

Now that the door behind her had closed and the silent darkness of the house she called home, once again enveloped her.

This house, that once was filled with the laughter of a happy family with her little daughter was now like an empty shell.

All the joy stripped away. All the happiness lost in a couple of years.

She was alone once again.

"No point in belittling yourself, Aoko" she reminded herself, trying to focus her mind on something else. But all her attempts failed and even as she tried to think of Kaito, something that usually worked, today it didn't help her.

 _"Am I this pathetic? Am I just going to cry myself to sleep now?"_

She tried to laugh at that thought, but when she opened her mouth, only a sob escaped her lips.

Tears were once again running down her cheeks, trailing down to her chin and finally falling on her blouse.

The silent splattering sound and her muffled weeps were everything she could hear in the dark.

Dragging herself up the stairs, not wanting her father to find her crying in the hallway, Aoko only stopped when the silence was broken by a soft thump.

Looking down, the crying girl saw a big, transparent sphere, the size of a football roll over the floor.

Inside it lay a necklace, made from ivory and decorated with jewels from all over the world.

"The Emperor's necklace" Aoko breathed, finally remembering that this had been the reason for everything that happened today.

It had completely slipped her mind, after her close escape together with Kid.

And this reminded her of something else… what had he disguised her as?

His own disguises, the thief had discarded shortly after they exited the taxi, but Aoko couldn't recall any moment in which he could have taken hers away.

Grabbing the sphere, she quickly made her way to the bathroom, where she flipped on the light and starred into the mirror.

The face that looked back was surprisingly familiar. The hair was a similar shade of dark brown as her own, but while hers was messy, the wig's strands curled elegantly in on itself. The eyes were still the same, since Kid hadn't made her wear colored contacts, but thanks to the little makeup she was wearing, her eyes seemed a lot darker and older than they should have been.

But aside from that there were no other familiariries to herself, yet it did look a lot like somebody she knew, even though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

As she had finished admiring the piece of art, after all it was hard to call such a good disguise something else, her curiosity on how it worked took over and Aoko started to gingerly pull at the artificial skin.

The material indeed was amazing, since it felt like actual skin would and even conducted the heat from her skin. If not for the noticeable difference in how sturdy the material was, Aoko wouldn't have been able to tell it apart from real skin.

Eventually, she managed to pull the mask off, and was once again amazed that it was all in one piece. Aside from the make-up, everything was neatly attached to the mask, which she could simply pull over her face and thus use again.

It may would look a bit strange, since the colors seemed off, but that was exactly the reason why Kid had put makeup on it.

Going back to her room, Aoko was exited to see what she would find in the rest of the clothing but to her disappointment, everything else were just normal clothes and most looked as if they had been used a lot of times before.

"He probably got them second hand, since I can't imagine Kid disguising that much. That is, if he is not into cross-dressing…" Aoko mused, ending her voiced thought with a light chuckle.

She didn't really think that Kid was into cross-dressing, but the idea was entertaining, nonetheless. Besides, if he had women clothing, he would also have to wear them, since his assistance was definitely male.

Now that she had solved the mystery of her disguise, Aoko turned her attention once again back to the galvanized glass sphere, which now lay in the middle of her room.

Seating herself right beside it on the floor, Aoko took it up again and started to turn it around, looking for any potential crack or something else.

The ball looked battered and Aoko could see some little fractures in the transparent surface, but none big enough to jaw anything between.

 _"I'll need to think of something to get the necklace out of this thing!"_

Eager to get to work, she swiftly went into the garage, rummaging it for something that would do the job.

After she had tried a couple of things, amongst which were various scissors, pincers and even a saw, Aoko finally found a tool, that potentially could even do something to the sturdy ball of super glass.

"This could help!" she proclaimed triumphantly after a few minutes of searching and held up the electric drill she found.

Right now, it was dead at night and the neighbors surely would hear the loud machine, but that was a problem she would have to solve later.

Quickly going back to fetch the globe, Aoko then sat it down in an old car tire, to give it at least a little stability.

She then proceeded to heavily pound the ball with a hammer, hoping to at least make a little dent so that the drill would find a grip.

It took her minutes of sweat and hard work, but eventually, she struck the sphere just with the edge of the heavy metal head, leaving behind a little indentation.

Carelessly throwing the hammer aside, Aoko quickly took up the electric drill.

It was time to do this thing in.

A quarter of an hour later, the globe was open.

It only took her around two minutes to actually drill a hole, since the material gave way pretty quickly. However, one hole hadn't been enough and so Aoko had to drill a second, for which she first had to again make a dent in the ball, and only then, the ball finally broke in two halves, after a few ferocious swings with a sledgehammer.

To her great luck, she had not hit the jewels with her reckless attack and so, she could finally pick up the precious necklace.

 _"In the end, I have it! Now, I can . . . What did I want to do with it again?"_

She couldn't remember.

In fact, now that she thought about it, there hasn't been any plan to begin with.

She just wanted to get the sphere open.

 _"Great and now what? I should probably give it back to the police, claiming Kid had dropped it in our garden or something like this."_

Pulling out her phone to check for the time, Aoko realized with a shock that it already was half past 3 am. and now that she saw how late (or early, depends on how you look at it) it was, her body finally realized how tired it was.

Stifling a yawn, Aoko would have loved nothing more than to go into bed, but a part of her brain remembered that her dad would not exactly be pleased, if he found out she broke a jewel safe-keeping sphere open.

Grumbling a little to herself, Aoko hurried to put away the various tool and sweep up all the small shards of glass, finally taking the two broken half's of the sphere along with the necklace itself up into her room, where she dumped them into her closet and threw a few pieces of clothes over them.

If her dad now were to, for whatever reason, look into her closet, he would not see anything and since he wasn't somebody who minded a small mess, he wouldn't even lift a finger to put the clothes back where they belonged. But it was doubtful, whether he even knew where they belonged.

Having finally decided that she had done enough for today, Aoko swiftly changed into her pajama's and went to bed falling asleep not long after.

* * *

When she woke up the next morning, not only did her whole body ache from the stress of the last evening, but she felt more tired than she imagined anybody could possibly feel.

Rolling around with more groans than movement, she finally managed to take a look at her alarm clock or at least the blurred image of it. Squinting her eyes, not achieving anything by doing so, Aoko had no other choice but to rub the sleepiness out of them.

Now, that she could finally see the clock, her mind barely managed to calculate that she had slept for 8 hours straight. The sun could no longer peak through her curtains, since it must already stand high over her head, like it usually does at noon.

Still to sleepy to stand up, Aoko instead opted to recall last evening. The chase with Kid, how he was shot, how his eyes had filled with fear and how she saved him.

At that moment, she felt like she saw through all of his mask and disguises, saw the real human underneath.

In this instance, he hadn't been Kaitou Kid, he hadn't been the notorious criminal, but the young man underneath the mask instead.

The young man, who afterwards played a joke at her, but still took it upon him to escort her back to her house.

The young man, who couldn't keep his mouth shut and had went head to head with her in an argument, up to the point where the taxi driver asked them to save their bickering up for when they were divorcing.

The young man, who he was, who was donning a garb and burden far too big for himself, out of some feeling of duty.

The young man, who took it upon himself to be disgraced as a villain only to do good.

Yet, he was clearly not the villain. Not when this gang of moral-less bastards was still allowed to roam the streets. Those monsters that shot at teenager, kidnapped Kaito, probably killed and bribed dozens of people on to get to the heists, to search for their immortality.

If they would get it, they surely would just sell it or use it for their own twisted benefits.

Aoko's blood boiled by now and she swore herself to catch those criminals.

Not Kid obviously. By now, she was certain Kid was no simple criminal and he also wasn't a vigilant. He was what in a work of fiction would be call a hero. But in reality, there were no heroes, that much was clear to Aoko.

And unlike heroes, even Kaitou Kid couldn't carry this burden alone.

He couldn't fight two wars at the same time and still expect to win.

His quest will eventually be his doom.

And Aoko didn't want to let this happen.

But what could she do? Tell the police?

As if they would believe her especially now that she knew that some of them were obviously corrupted.

So, if she couldn't trust the authorities, there was really only one other way. Take matters into her own hands.

She didn't like what this implied, since she still regarded it as wrong to steal, but if she had to chose between a little theft and the life of a good person, she would obviously choose the later.

In a way, it would be the same as a private detective did. Helping people by rectifying the injustice that was done to them.

And unlike the detectives, who's help mostly helped the dead, she would help a still living person.

The more Aoko thought about it, the more plausible it started to sound to her. After all, her main focus was not to let Kid steal the gems, but she was simply out to catch the men in black and make sure nobody got hurt.

If she could spare the time, then of course she would prevent Kid from stealing the jewel, but sometimes it simply couldn't be helped.

However, as much as she was now convinced that it would be the right thing to do, she had absolutely no experience as an actual detective.

Sure, the things Conan taught her were broadly applicable, but it was still a huge difference whether you went after Kid or after a gang of armed robbers.

But speaking of Conan, the little detective surely wouldn't mind broadening the material for their lessons a bit. After all, if she ended up becoming a detective, it would also mean less work for him and more people out to punish criminals.

She would have to ask him, the next time he gave her a lesson.

She doubted there would be a heist till then, but if there was one, she would just try to keep the police close to Kid, since then, they would automatically see the men in black and would be able to arrest them.

Of course, it wouldn't be as easy as she made it now out to be, but just thinking of it, filled her with contentment, since she knew what she had to do and that it would help.

Thanks to her mussing, Aoko was now fully awake and so, she decided that 8 hours must suffice for keeping her running till the evening. After all, she didn't want to completely screw over her biological clock and so, she made her way down the stairs.

Following the noise of the television, she found her dad sitting on the coach, sipping at a coffee and watching some talk show. The program didn't seem all that interesting and so, Aoko focused on getting her breakfast or lunch according to the rime, but as soon as she heard the name 'Kaitou Kid' coming from the television, she was all ears.

It turned out, her father had been listening to a talk show regarding the heist of last night and the still missing necklace, which had yet to be found. Apparently, it had been expected that Kid would return it after at max a couple of hours, but since it had failed to turn up, theories, ranging from another thief who stole it from Kid to Kid finally having gave in to the temptation of the jewels, turned up. All trying to explain where the necklace was right now.

 _"THE NECKLACE, WHICH IS IN MY CLOSET!"_

Aoko realized, shuddering at the thought that all those chaos and confusion was indirectly caused by her. Just because she hasn't given it to the police yet.

Sparring her father, a brief glance, Aoko immediately deduced from his low brows and the deep wrinkle between them, that he was as upset as the rest of the police must be.

Getting back up from the coach, in order to go to her room, dress and then, surprisingly, 'find' the jewel, Aoko didn't even manage to fully stand up.

"Aoko, wait a moment" her father asked her and as she turned to look at him, his face showed a weird mixture between worry, conviction and fear, "I have something I must talk with you about."

The statement let Aoko's blood freeze in her veins, but she still managed to sit back down beside her dad, without panicking.

 _"Poker face! Poker face! You have seen Kaito and Kid do it so often, now it's your turn. Just act normal. Normal!"_

Ok, she was definitely panicking.

'What would her dad say? Did he know she had chased after Kid? Wasn't he still blinded by the light? Or did he find the necklace?' Questions like these shot through her head, who was now more awake than ever before.

Her dad had now turned to completely face her, and she expected him to continue any second.

But he didn't continue.

Instead, a flurry of emotions rushed over his face, and even though Aoko couldn't identify all of them in such a short time, overall, he looked to be uncertain and at a loss of words.

After a minute, in which Aoko's anxiety only grew, he finally spoke up.

"Yesterday, after the heist was over, we received a call from a resident, who reported that he spotted a suspicious looking figure with what appeared to be a gun on a nearby roof. We immediately went after him and as it turned out, it truly was a sniper, who was aiming at the Karasuma Tower. He has yet to be brought under questioning but from his statement, we could conclude that somebody payed him good money, for shooting Kid down should he chose to flee with his hang glider."

Aoko's heart stopped for a second, as her mind quickly provided for who he must have been working,

 _"SNAKE! He was really out to kill Kid!"_

Unknowing of the terrible realization his daughter just had, Ginzo Nakamori went on with his story, "We spent the rest of last night with searching for other witnesses or snipers, arresting two other man's who claimed the same thing. Apparently, somebody was out to kill Kid."

At that the older Nakamori stopped, seemingly to consider what he could tell his daughter and what not. Apparently, he made up his mind, as his face grew grim and he nodded lightly to himself, before he continued.

"I just came from an urgent meeting, with the superintendent and the chief of division two and we reached a conclusion. After the earlier incident with the group of armed intruders and now this, we have decided that Kid heist are to dangerous to involve normal civilians any longer. What this means is that . . . You'll no longer be allowed to attend any Kid heist."

His last words, he spoke softly and low, but despite that, they hit Aoko like a gunshot.

 **No longer allowed to attend**

 **No longer attend**

 **Not attend**

Those words rung in her mind, her meaning sinking deeper with every second.

And then, she it finally hit her.

She could no longer catch those guys in black.

She could no longer watch over Kid!

A part of her was relived. No civilians meant no Kaito, so he was out of danger. But another, far bigger part screamed at this injustice. And this part won her over.

Her shock turned to anger and the quick temper her father was so infamous for flared up.

"What do you mean I'm no longer allowed to attend?" she screamed. Her blazing anger strongly contrasted by the tears that streamed down her face.

Just last night, she had broken the law by hiding the jewel.

Just today, she had decided that she would catch the men in black and make them pay for what they have done.

And now all of her plans, all of her decision were fed to the dogs, just because the police would no longer allow civilians at a heist?!

She was more than just a civilian!

By now she had become as good of an expert on Kid as Conan was! They clearly needed her, otherwise there would be no chance of ever catching Kid. Not if Conan didn't start to teach them all!

Her anger rose even more, when she thought back to the countless times when the police walked right in Kid's traps. One of the earliest heists, where she first managed to confront Kid all alone, then the police were skating and slipping around on a flight of stairs, not managing to move even an inch!

Still, this bunch of amateurs were allowed to continuously stand in the way of each other, while she would have to watch through the TV. That is, if the reporters are even allowed to attend.

 _"If they let those bloodsucking, story hunters inside, then, then . . ."_

Her burning rage had now reached it's peak and with a loud stomp, she closed the small distance between herself and her father, screaming to his face.

"YOU CAN'T JUST BAN THE PUBLIC FROM FUTURE HEISTS! HOW WOULD YOU EVER STAND A CHANCE AGAINST KID, WITHOUT THE HELP OF ANY COMPETENT DETECTIVE?!"

Taken gravely aback by her outbreak, Ginzo staggered back on the coach, trying to bring some distance between himself and his daughter. He had expected that she wouldn't take the news very well, but this hugely overshadowed his wildest expectations.

"Bu… but Aoko, you have to understand, we…"

But his attempted explanation was instantly broken off, when Aoko interrupted him with her screeching words.

"NO, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND! AS LONG AS THE PUBLIC IS PRESENT, AS LONG AS IT CAN'T GET HUSHED UP, **THEY** CAN'T MOVE FREELY! YOUR EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC, IS THE SAME AS IF YOU WOULD START TO SHOOT AT KID!"

In her mind, everything was crystal clear. She could almost see the men in black, creeping out from the shadows once the doors closed for the public, swarming together like a group of rats out to feast on a corpse. And this corpse would be Kid at this rate.

But to her father, nothing was clear.

"Aoko. Please. I don't understand. What could get hushed up? Who can't move freely? Who are **they**?"

Nearly Aoko started to explain. Nearly she spilled everything she knew about the mysterious and dangerous organization she called the men in black.

But before she could open her mouth a terrible realization hit her.

She remembered what happened last evening.

She remembered the fake police officers and the badges they showed them. The real badges.

 _"You can't just get those that easily, especially not in such huge numbers. And the police usually do a background check before you're allowed to become an officer. So, you need somebody in the high ranks of the police to hush this up. And if they have somebody in the high ranks of the police, possibly even more than just one person, then they could easily force this decision, after the two incidents with the armed men at the heist location."_

Now that she thought about it, this would also explain why the men in black had attacked so recklessly. First bragging into a building filled with officers while carrying arms and then openly attempting to snipe down Kid, when the focus of whole Japan must have lain on the heist, due to the high value of the target.

 _"That's also why the arrested criminals could only tell the police about the very basics of their tasks! They were sacrifices, meant to imply that the heist would be dangerous, but further than that, they couldn't give a single clue to who was behind all of this."_

At this thought, Aoko shuddered.

It was all so meticulously planned! With cold logic and figures, as if they were simply talking about numbers and calculation instead of actual human beings!

Whoever was behind this, was not only powerful enough to manipulate the whole police of Tokyo, but also callous enough to walk over cold bodies to achieve his goals! And apparently, this goal was to grasp immortality, regardless of the sheer absurdity of the idea.

This only fueled Aoko's fury but unlike when she was enraged by the police by their stupidity and shortsightedness, she now was disgusted and appalled by the supposed plan of whoever had orchestrated this.

If they ever got wind of what she knew, they would doubtlessly come after her to silence her, so she could absolutely tell nobody.

Especially not her dad, now starring up at her like a deer in the headlights, having no idea that he was being used as a tool to achieve somebody's dark ambitions.

Turning on her heel and storming out of the living room, out of the house, Aoko only knew that she could not let this go unpunished.

She might only be a high school girl, but don't somebody dare to take her lightly.

If they did, she would make sure it would be their doom.

* * *

All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.

Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part.

Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.

Farewell


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

' **She might only be a high school girl, but don't somebody dare to take her lightly.**

 **If they did, she would make sure it would be their doom.'**

Those had been very noble thoughts, but currently, Aoko didn't even know where she was going, not to mention the fact that she still wore her pyjama.

In retrospective, the brisk decision to leave the house in pursuit of her just cause might have been a little overambitious.

The best and probably least embarrassing cause of action would likely have been to just swallow down her pride and go home, instead of continuously walking around in a park only wearing her pyjama, but out of sheer stubbornness, Aoko refused to go back.

Ignoring the fact, that she eventually would have to go back, if she didn't intend to run away from home forever, Aoko sat down on a bench in the middle of the park.

Normally, the park should have been crowded with Kids, but since they still had their summer break, their parents took them somewhere more exciting than the local playground. Much to Aoko's relief.

She wouldn't have known what to say if anybody asked why she was wearing a pyjama, so, in an attempt to at least save a little of her pride, she started to think of a believable story.

At least as believable as it could possibly be.

Submerged into her thoughts, the high schooler visibly jumped when the bush behind her started to rustle, only for a little girl's head to plop out of it in the next second.

For a moment, they just starred at each other, Aoko in alarmed surprise, the girl in innocent curiosity.

But as soon as her gaze shifted down a little, her brows furrowed in what appeared to be confusion and she stepped out of the vegetation.

"You're wearing a pyjama" the girl remark in an unjudging yet definite tone, "Why are you wearing a pyjama?"

Taken aback by the outright bluntness of the little girl, who now tilted her head in a questioning manner, Aoko was at a loss for words. Stammering some incoherent syllables, she was about to answer, when the girl interrupted her again.

"Is it because you slept on this bench? My mother told me that sometimes, poor people would do this. She called them 'homeless'. Are you homeless?"

Again, Aoko didn't know what to answer, unable to cope with the utter, yet innocent rudeness of the girl. Trying to again to stammer something vaguely coherent, she was again interrupted by another voice, but this time it was another girl that approached the two.

"Ayumi-chan, this is a sensitive topic for most destitute people. You really shouldn't ask them such questions."

The girl with the yellow headband in front of Aoko, lightly pouted at this, "But Ai-chan, why should they feel embarrassed, after all it's not a bad thing to have no home."

"They aren't embarrassed because it would be a bad thing," the strawberry blonde girl started to explain as she approached the two, "It's because they feel at fault for not having a home."

"Really? But what if they aren't responsible for not having a home?"

Ai had already opened her mouth to answer, but Aoko swiftly cut in, cheeks bright pink, "I'm not homeless or destitute nor anything similar. I'm perfectly fine, thank you."

"Then why do you wear a pyjama?" Ayumi asked again with a curious gaze and now, Ai too raised a brow at seeing Aoko's clothing.

"Well, that's because… You know… It's because…" Aoko tried to explain, though she really didn't know what there was to explain.

"I hope it's not because you were too angry at your Dad for shutting you out of the Kid heist, so that you just rushed out of the house, Aoko-neechan." Another voice pipped up and this time it let Aoko's blood freeze.

Casually sauntering towards them came Conan, behind him a rather corpulent and a lanky boy, both mustering Aoko with equally questioning glances.

"C-C-CONAN-KUN!" Aoko mustered to shriek, pointing a finger accusingly at him.

"It's rude to point at people!" Ayumi was quick to scold.

"I don't think courtesies are her main concern right now." came as a suggestion from Ai, who now turned a questioning gaze at Conan.

"Let me introduce her," the young detective began, a sly grin now decorating his face, "this is Aoko Nakamori, daughter of Inspector Nakamori!"

Aoko wished to just get swallowed up by the floor and never see this accursed world again.

O

Since the Mouris' financial situation didn't really allow for holidays away from home when everybody else would go ashore, Conan original thought that he would have a lot of time for himself, his investigations of this mysterious black organisation and his mystery novels.

But, as it turned out, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi and Genta had already arranged that they would all leave in the same week of the summer break, so that they could hang out and investigate stuff during the remaining 3 weeks.

This led to the three standing in front of the Mouri agency at 8 in the morning, ready to drag Conan off and go to 'invite', as they called it when it came closer to kidnapping, Ai as well.

All three kids were terribly exited by the adventures they would find and the mysteries that they should uncover, so it came as a rather big shock, when they didn't find anything worth investigating.

Ushering Conan and Ai through the whole city, all the while looking for something to give them a reason to play detective again, they finally stopped in this park, now being too bored to continue searching and thus, they were going to play hide and seek.

After a few rounds, this finally led to Conan being the one to search the others and since he pretty much instantly found Genta and Mitsuhiko, who had decided to hide near his starting point for whatever reason, the three boys ventured out to search for Ayumi and Haibara.

And so, they found the girls talking to a pretty miserable looking girl on a park bench, still clad in her pyjama.

"Aoko-neechan, those are my friends Ayumi Yoshida, Genta Kojima, Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya and Ai Haibara." Conan introduced his little gang, as Hattori called them, before he turned back to the subject at hand.

"So, was my assumption right?"

From the amazed, yet a bit embarrassed look Aoko gave him, Conan could already deduce the answer, but the others continued to look questioningly at the high schooler, so she eventually answered.

"Yes…" she mumbled, barely audible, yet her reply caused a loud barrage of words from the kids.

"WHAT?! We are no longer allowed to attend Kid heist?!"

"And even though we still have to catch him!" Genta complained.

"I'll never see Kid-sama again!" Ayumi whined, being close to tears while Mitsuhiko tried to calm her down and comfort her. Even Ai raised a surprised brow at that.

"After the shooting before and the snipers they discovered last night, the police thought it wisely to shut the public out, in order to keep them safe." Conan recited what he had heard from Takagi this morning, "but apparently, the main reason why the decided to ban the public, was a letter from Kid, specifically requesting so, since he didn't want to see how one of his heists turns into a massacre."

At the second piece of information, Aoko suddenly perked up, suspicion and doubt fleeting over her face, but for only a second and Conan had to admit, that her poker face has improved a lot.

"This letter, what were the exact words and who did receive it?" Aoko suddenly asked, her face no longer tinged with embarrassment but set in a what could only be described as suspecting manner.

"I don't know the exact words, but Takagi-keiji said, that it was delivered to Inspector Nakamori and that he seemed pretty shaken by the letter"

"THIS ARSE!" Aoko ejaculated, surprising if not even scaring the children around her as she abruptly jumped up. Her face was now flushed with anger and her knuckles turned white from how strongly she clenched her fist.

"Ehm, who is an arse?" Conan inquired carefully, not wanting to tick the girl of even more since that outbreak has also taken him aback. Not that he thought her capable of hurting somebody, but if she was anything like her father, then her volume could only rise, something he wasn't too keen on hearing happen.

"KAITO KID OF COURSE! THIS SNEAKY BASTARD! SO THAT'S WHAT HE MEANT!"

Realizing that he had to contain her outbreak, since the kids were already hiding behind him and Ai looked dangerously alarmed, Conan put all his authority in his voice as he spoke.

"Aoko-neechan, strong emotions are antagonistic to the logical reasoner! You're losing your sight of the big picture!"

His words, as nerdy as they must seem from the way the strawberry-blonde looked at him in sanity questioning bewilderment, still seemed to strike a chord in Aoko, as his pupil now tried to calm herself with deep and controlled breaths.

After half a minute, her fury had completely vanished, and she slumped back on the bench.

"Sorry Conan-kun. It's just that… I'm really upset about not being able to attend anymore. And to think it was Kid, even though he clearly enjoys the challenge…"

Now sighing himself, Conan hopped next to her on the bench and slowly patted her shoulder.

"There's no need to apologize, everybody would be upset. But as I said, you're missing the bigger picture."

When Aoko only raised her head to look at him with a questioning glance, Conan saw this as the perfect opportunity for a new lesson. Directing his words, not only towards Aoko, but to the Detective boys too, he started to explain his question.

"Think about why Kid would not want people to attend his heist anymore. Why would he even go as far as to write a letter to the police?"

"Maybe he feels like he is disappointing his audience since he ran out of tricks to show?" Mitsuhiko theorized.

Conan was about to disagree with the freckled boy, but Ai beat him to it, "Interesting theory Tsuburaya-kun, but if that were the case, wouldn't he just take a break to come up with new tricks?"

Unable to answer the posed question, Mitsuhiko merely replied an embarrassed smile and so a few seconds of silence elapsed, before Aoko broke it with her own theory.

"It's probably just what Kid said. That he doesn't want anybody to get hurt. But I don't understand why he would allow the police to attend, but not the detectives who make the chase fun for him and would help the police in catching those mysterious attackers."

From the way she spoke, Conan suspected that she knew more than she let on, but that was probably good so, since some details weren't meant for the ears of children. Of course, he only meant the real children.

Deciding that it was time to unravel the riddle, he cleared his throat and started with his own explanation as soon as all eyes were on him.

"The reason why he doesn't want the detectives to be present, is precisely because they make it fun and challenging. For one, Kid enjoys the challenge and thus he values the people who are able to pose a challenge for him more than anything. So, it's not surprising that he specifically requested for them to be kept out of the loop. And for two, if he has to concentrate on the detectives, then he is more vulnerable to his attackers. He probably wants to first take down the armed men, thus making his heist save again, before he'll invite his 'favourite critics' again."

"Then why doesn't Kid just put off any heists for now and instead concentrates on catching those criminals?" Ai questioned in a rather childish and thus very unnatural and slightly creepy way, as Conan thought.

It was, however, Aoko who answered her question, thought she seemed to be talking more with herself than with the people around her.

"Because he doesn't know who they are! He can only draw them out when he steals a jewel, that's why he can't put off the heists."

Feeling a pleased smile creep on his face, Conan knew that there was only one question left to ask. A question only Aoko could answer.

"So, what are you going to do?"

It was a simple question, but Aoko still looked at him as if he just asked her to solve the question of the universe.

"What do you mean?"

A little bit amused by how clueless this rather smart girl could be sometimes. He was about to answer when another voice beat him to it again.

"What he means is, what will you do, now that you know the truth. Will you just accept it, turn around and walk away? Or will you stand up and fight for what you believe is right?" Ai asked, her voice carrying an unusual level of emotion and empathy, "But be aware, once you decide, you'll have to live with the consequences, whatever they might be!"

Not as inspired and captivated by Ai's speech as Aoko seemed to be, Conan could help but note the begrudging yet at the same one fond undertone Ai used, when she spoke the last sentence.

But it made sense for her to say something like this, since she had stood at a very similar spot in her live before, having to choose between doing the thing that is right yet make her vulnerable or the thing that is wrong but would guarantee her safety.

However, while it was obvious which option would keep Aoko save, Conan wasn't sure whether the other would necessarily be the right choice.

Regardless, Aoko already seemed to have made up her mind.

"Thanks a lot for your help and advice! Now, I finally know what to do." She thanked, while standing up from the bench, quickly biding the goodbye and then charging off, an expression akin to a dog on a hot sent on her face.

After that the kids were quick to admire Aoko's departure and began comparing her to Ran, since they doubtlessly noted the uncanny resemblance. This left Conan and Ai to fall back a little further and discuss their 'adult stuff' as the kids called it.

"You know that you quite probably inspired her to commit trespassing and sneak on the heist, right." Conan finally noted, earning him only a light shrug from Ai.

"I merely told her to do what she thinks is right. When this caused her to commit a crime, I don't see any fault befalling me." The strawberry-blonde explained, not without sending him an amused smirk as she added, "However, if you expected that much, why haven't you prevented her from running off?"

Only sending her a mysterious smile back, Conan gave her to understand that this would be his secret.

Instead, he said, "Anyways, thank you for playing along and answering my stupid question, I probably own you something for that."

But he immediately regretted those words, when he saw Ai's devilish smirk as she spoke, "Oh, that's quite perfect. I still have those experiments, which need a human subject. Just tell me when you feel up to the task."

O

Exhausted, she finally arrived at her home again, having underestimated exactly how far she had ventured, on her pyjama stroll. Finding that the front door was locked, Aoko took the back door, which she knew her father always kept open, when he had gone out and knew Aoko didn't have her keys with her.

It was one of those scarce things he did, that truly showed how much he cares for Aoko, his only daughter. This affection was something most people, that didn't know him very well, would never suspect, since his father seemed too much of a workaholic to them.

Granted, that was indeed true.

Forced to juggle his hunt for Kaitou Kid and caring for his daughter, after he lost his wife, Ginzo Nakamori simply didn't have the time to have any hobbies. At first, he had managed pretty well, but the sleepless nights, sometimes caused by Aoko's nightmare and sometimes by his own, soon took their toll. Unable to sustain his lifestyle any longer, the man had to give up one thing and unlike what is expected from a father, he didn't give up his job.

For him, this was probably how he coped with his loss, trying to find meaning and purpose in bringing down a notorious criminal, since he was no longer a husband. But the man had completely forgotten that he still had a father role to fulfill and by the time he realized this, Aoko had no longer needed him.

Already able to care for herself, her dad left her home alone more and more, even though Kid hadn't been active for years by now. Aoko suspected that he tried to drown his guilt for disappointing his wife's and daughter's expectation, in his work, but since there was no thief to catch there was no need for his extra hours.

Slowly but surely, her father came back earlier and left later, sometimes even taking days off to spend with his daughter. After a short while, he would start to take the now alone living Kaito with them, bringing the two to the most wondrous places.

Aoko was very fond of those memories, since they were the best time of her life. Of course, she realized that this was how her father tried to make up for all the time he had wasted, but to her it didn't matter why he spent time with her. It was just important that he did.

Some people had of course criticized her dad for letting his young daughter do the housework and such, but frankly one of Aoko's biggest joys was to be able to greet her dad with a nice, hot dinner, when he came home. It might seem like a chore to others, but to her it was the reason why she gladly rushed home after school, knowing fully well what she was going to do and that she would have good company.

But eventually, this time ended. And it ended, when he appeared again.

Kid's reappearance was like an avalanche, that completely threw over Aoko's whole life.

Her dad started to stay longer at work, eventually not coming home till late at night or even not at all. Kaito also seemed busier, even though Aoko didn't know why. Since she had found out, that he was meeting with Kid in secret, she suspected that this must have been the reason, but at that time, she had no clue and only felt left alone.

That was also, when her home had started to feel cold and lonely.

And so, she started to hate coming home.

At first, she told herself to not be such a baby and just swallow it, but it eventually drove her mad till she just couldn't stay here for more than an hour.

From then on, she had started to pester Kaito and her dad more and more, clinging to them be it after schools or at the heists, just so she wouldn't have to be alone in this house.

And so, she eventually met Conan. Became interested in catching Kid and finally started the path that lead her here. Back to her wardrobe where the jewel and Kid's mask still were hidden.

Smiling softly to herself, Aoko didn't miss the irony of the situation, since she had gone out to catch a criminal and now came back to commit what must appear to be a crime herself.

But she knew it wasn't a crime. After all, she wouldn't really steal anything nor would she hinder the police in any way. All she would do, was to make sure that neither Kid nor the men in black got the jewel and try to catch at least some of the men in black.

This, however, she couldn't do with her own face. So, she needed a disguise. More than one.

And how best to learn the art of disguising than from the great master herself? After all, Kid had practically gifted her this mask and why should she not use it or try to copy it?

" _But what should I do with the necklace? Just handing it to the police now would be suspicious and they would question why it took so long. Of course, I won't sell it, since that would absolutely ruin Kid's reputation. So, what to do?"_

Suddenly, an idea sprang into her mind and she couldn't stop an impish grin from sneaking on her face. The idea was maybe risky, but definitely foolish. Nonetheless it was far too tempting to not go for it.

And so Aoko set to work, trying to build up her own equipment for the upcoming heist.

Granted, it wouldn't be as easy as crafting something for school, but after all, she didn't need to look flashy or distract anybody like Kid, so it would surely be easier than she thought, right?

* * *

It wasn't easy.

It wasn't easier at all.

The sun was now slowly setting and Aoko had barely managed to identify the material Kid used for the masks as a mixture of rubber and latex, covered with a special foil of what she guessed to be very fine paper. She had cut a little bit of from the mask to analyse the material and, as unbelievable as she thought it too, that was apparently Kid's secret material.

It was a lot more low-budget that she had expected, but since she wasn't rich herself it was a huge relief to her. After all, it would be hard if she couldn't even afford the materials to make a mask.

In regard to the hair, she wasn't certain as of yet, but it appeared to be a simple wig that Kid had plucked and then glued the individual strands on his mask. Simple yet effective.

However, that was pretty much all she could do for today, since neither did, she have the materials to start crafting nor did she dare to start her work in her room. After all, it was only a question of time, till her dad would find it then, so she needed another place to work and store her stuff.

For a brief moment, she wondered if she should ask Kaito about lending her one of the many empty rooms, but since he would definitely ask why she needed it and Aoko wasn't willing to tell anybody what she intended to do, she scratched that idea again.

Putting the mask back in its old hiding spot, Aoko started to work on her summer assignments. After all, she couldn't start slacking off in school because of a petty thief and since she didn't know whether she would have enough time for homework later, she wanted to be done with it as soon as possible.

* * *

"Kaitou Kid has just sent a new note, claiming that he would steal a jewel currently belonging to the Suzuki family. Jirokichi Suzuki, already known for his commitment to catch Kaitou Kid, has already said that he will personally look after the stone's security, but has agreed to let the police help as well. To the question whether the press would be allowed to attend, Suzuki-san could only tell us that this had yet to be discussed, however he didn't sound very positive. Experts agreed that it would be very harmful for the polices reputation and trustworthiness, if the ban would be broken so soon after it was put in action. So, chances are high that we will have to rely on the stories of the present policemen to retell the happenings if this heist."

After that, the radio once again started to chime the latest music trends, filling the small and cramped room in which Aoko sat, hunched over her very first mask. By now, she had worked a full week at completing her project and was now close to finishing it.

She would only have to apply the makeup, to make the fake skin look authentic and finish the eyebrows, which made the face look very creepy through their absence.

Since she already had a female-looking mask, the one she made herself depicted a male, with a strongly curved nose and overall rather hard and sharp looking face. Not only would he look very stern, but his face would also radiate a certain authority, hopefully helping her by discouraging people from addressing or questioning her.

Not that the legal document would pose much of a problem. After all, she knew her father's combination to his police account and thus had free reign to add or remove anyone from the task force. Of course, she had to be careful to remain unnoticed, but since her dad was not one to be on good terms with this 'high-tech-nonsense' as he called it, she didn't fear that he would take notice of the changes or even check the digital documents.

Only problem left was that she had to make him believe, that he really accepted Aoki Nakagawa, as she had named her disguise, into the task force. The key to this was to not let him think about it too much, so best introduce herself shortly before Kid scheduled to appear, since that would be the perfect excuse to cut their talk short.

Luckily, the police were more reliable when it came to updating their online data, so Aoko was sure that a photograph of the new heist note should be added to the police files right about now. And since she had to know when Kid would appear as soon as possible, so she could plan things out properly, Aoko put her mask in the drawer of the small table and rose from the crooked stool.

Unlocking the door and stepping through it, she had to fight a little with the old, reeking rags that hang from clothe hangers, until she was able to lock the door behind her. Now pushing the old and thick panel of wood back into its place, she noted with no little amount of satisfaction that it looked like one would expect the inside of an almost ancient wardrobe to look.

Since she had to find a good location to store and work on her things, Aoko had started to search for a hiding place inside her own house, to make it as convenient as possible. And while her first idea to use the attic didn't work out, since it was always a huge mess to pull the ladder down and back up again, she found what she was looking for in the basement.

There, inside and room that her family apparently used as a storage room, she found a door to a small, yet well-hidden room and a huge wardrobe right beside it. Deciding that this was the perfect place, Aoko didn't have huge problems to furnish the small room with what she needed, though the furniture wasn't what you would call new.

The real problems arose when she had to move the wardrobe, which proved to be made of thick and massive oak wood, making it easily weight over 300 kilogram (660 pound). But thanks to the help of a sturdy crowbar and a lot of effort, she managed to move the behemoth in front of the door, effectively blocking it from everybody's view.

The next step was to modify the back of the wardrobe and make it slidable, which proved easier than it should. As it turned out, just removing a few nails was enough to do the job, though she had to move the whole wardrobe again for that, which was an unbelievable chore.

Last but not least, she simply had to cut a little hole into the back panel, so she could easily push the it to the side. She also had to remove the doorknob, since it served no purpose other than unnecessarily annoying her. This also had the added benefit, that she always had to lock the door, which only added to the room's security.

This was probably an overkill, since she doubted that anybody would even realize that there should be an additional room, since the only person who could know was her dad. And he had been primarily at work for the last couples of years and even when he was home, he surely would not venture down in this dump of a storage room.

So Aoko was fairly confident, that her room was absolutely safe. That is, as long as Conan or Kaito didn't come looking for it.

Shaking her head to get rid of the unpleasant picture of how one of the two boys came and tore her new and secret life apart, Aoko finally emerged from the basement, immediately making her way to her own room, where her laptop was.

She had already played with the idea of buying a new one for her less than legal researches, but since she had gone through the trouble of changing her password and using a tor browser, she doubted that it would be necessary.

Seating herself at her desk and logging into her account, it wasn't long till she saw that there indeed was a new heist note added to the police database.

Swiftly opening it, Aoko started to read the carefully crafted riddle those heist notes always were.

 _In twilight's embrace lie the stars_

 _Ready to meet their next heir_

 _Shall he put them in his memoires._

 _But be warned of the jester's sign_

 _For he shall arise and take_

 _What once belonged to his line_

Furrowing her brows, Aoko read the note over two more times, before she attempted to unriddle the whole thing.

" _Ok, so the only obvious indication of a more or less accurate point in time is twilight, meaning there is a high chance he will appear once the sun sets. But since it is so obvious, it could be a lure to give us a false idea._

 _But the bigger issue is the jewel he is targeting. Since it seems as if the second verse only states his intention of stealing, with the jester clearly being a sort of mock reference to magicians, because a lot of jester used magic tricks to entertain their audience, the secret must be hidden in the first lines…"_

Leaning back in her chair and playing with a strand of her hair, Aoko started to mentally look up every word of the message, hoping to find a hidden second meaning.

" _Why did he write 'Ready to meet their next heir'? Who is the heir to the stars? Is he talking about comets? No, doesn't make much sense. Maybe planets? No, planets don't become stars only suns do._

 _Of course! Suns. The sun! The sun is also a star… wait, it already is, so it's no heir."_

Starting to grow a little frustrated, Aoko tried to tackle the issue from another direction.

" _What if the stars are not meant to be real stars? If they are just a placeholder for the jewel, then that would mean that the jewel will be handed over to somebody else. It is up for sale!_

Quickly opening a new tab, Aoko hurriedly looked up all the jewels that the Suzuki family put up for sale. Thanks to the fact that the rich company grandly advertised their up for sale things on their own website, it wasn't a lot of trouble to draw up a list with all currently available jewels.

" _Okay, all the jewels are sold via an auction system, so if Kid writes 'Ready to meet their next heir' he probably intents to steal them on the day when the biding ends. Now, which of these jewels have a star in their name?"_

Doing a quick search, Aoko had to disappointingly realize that there were no jewels with stars in the name. Figuring that it couldn't possibly have been that easy, she once again started to brew over the matter, conjecturing and discarding countless theories every second.

But to no avail.

Finally, after more than an hour of researching, testing her hypothesis and cursing, she had to give up for now. Trying to soothe her own frustration by reminding herself that she probably still had days to figure this out, Aoko nonetheless found herself to be restless for the rest of the evening.

Even when her father had come home and they sat together at the table, eating dinner, Aoko was constantly absent-minded, thus also quenching every attempt of her father to talk again about the matter of the heists.

After a lot of futile shots, the older Nakamori apparently thought that his daughter didn't want to talk about the matter, so he dropped it for the rest of the evening.

For a moment, Aoko had played with the idea to simply ask him, whether he had cracked Kid's heist riddle, but since she wanted to seem as neutral and passive as possible when it came to heists, so her father would suspect her pulling anything behind his back, she opted for not mentioning the matter at all.

After all, there still were other people she could ask, one of them being far smarter than the whole police force together.

She had already mailed the heist note to Conan and much like she expected, there was an unread message when she went back to her room after dinner.

"Seems Kid wants to rile up the old geezer even more. But wasn't such a hard code to crack. You figured it out?" his message read.

Of course, Aoko had already expected Conan to figure out more than she did but seeing how he called the code 'not so hard to crack', was nonetheless a blow to her already faint ego.

Granted, the whole detective lessons and her newly found abilities had helped inflate it a little, but it was still no challenger to the self-esteem of Kaito, not to mention Kid himself.

" _Or is that also merely a mask he puts on?"_ Aoko wondered for a moment, but quickly brought her thoughts back on topic.

It had been a blow to her ego, but she wasn't one to play the stubborn child and not ask, so she wrote back, "Could figure out that he would come at twilight of the day the stone would be sold off but couldn't figure out which stone it was. How did you find out?"

Apparently, Conan had expected a rash answer, since he immediately began to type and no minute later came his reply.

"It's the 'Phantom's heart'. Big old amethyst with little specks of normal quartz in it. The small crystals seem like stars, while the amethyst looks like the violet twilight sky. There was a second and easier to find clue, in the second verse. 'What once belonged to his line' is a reference to the stones name because Kid is a phantom thief and the amethyst is called 'Phantom's heart'. Its auction is scheduled to end in 3 days."

Giving herself a hearty facepalm, Aoko found it once again amazing how easy the whole thing was to understand, if somebody explained it to you.

That was also the case when it came to design tricks and such. In order to guarantee her own safety, when she would sneak on the heist, of course with no bad intentions, Aoko had worked to create her own smoke bombs. Her first five attempts were complete failures, either blowing up in her hand or not at all. But every failure taught her a new thing, one was for example was that her new, small workshop had a working air vent.

At one point, she stopped counting, but it had for sure been more than fifteen attempts, before she successfully built a working prototype. From there one, she managed to improve them a little bit, before she made enough of them to smoke her own house out.

And now that she knew what Kid would be stealing, it was only a question of figuring out where it was kept, along with some preparations concerning blueprints of the building the heist would take place in.

After that was done, the real fun could start.

O

Loud and cheering stood the Kid fans behind the metal fence, blocking every root to the Suzuki Art Museum near the center of Tokyo. True to their word, the task force didn't let anybody not directly involved in the security of the stone even near the building.

But as this would keep Kaitou Kid out.

After all, a master thief who wants to reclaim what ones belonged to his line, which of course wasn't true but Kaito didn't expect anybody to seriously believe it anyways, ought to properly prepare himself.

In his case, that didn't just mean getting his hands on the blueprint and checking the place out prior to the heist, but also that he went through all available files and collected all sorts of information. And of course, he had also secured a police uniform and a spot on the squad, even though he had to knock out the police officer he impersonated right now.

But all the trouble was definitely worth it, since he now knew this place like the back of his hand. The locations of every air vent, locked doors and staircases, all possible and practical escape routs, dead ends, surveillance cameras, IT-rooms, server-blocks and even light switches, all of it was saved in his brain.

Never before in his life had he memorized so much for just one occasion, but since this was the first time, that he would go up against Snake and the police with no cover from the media or his fans. And this meant, that everything could end up happening, including things like hostages, bombs, heavy weapons, lethal gas and a lot more.

In the end, Snake was still a criminal and he would gladly use any foul trick or opportunity that he could get his dirty hands on.

Looking down at his own hands, covered in white silk gloves, Kaito couldn't help but be appalled by how clean his stained fingers looked. After all, these were the hands of a thief, a liar and a fraud.

Despite his best efforts, how many people ended up getting hurt on one of his heists? How many of them came close to dying, just for being near him?

Some might argue, that it was not his fault, that all those things happened. The people chose to be there themselves. They chose to involve themselves with him!

But truth is, most of them didn't!

Why would a normal high schoolgirl choose to involve herself with armed criminals, when she just went to a big magic show?

All that his fans knew was, that Kid steals jewels with a grand show only to hand them back to the police. Never keeping anything, he steals.

The fact that behind the curtain he was silently fighting a war against a criminal organisation wasn't something any of them knew. All they ever heard was that another misguided individual had some personal grudge against the thief in white or that some gang of criminals wanted to land a big coup and thus came armed to a heist.

But how could they know?

How could they know when some higher up was clearly collaborating with Snake?

Letting a heavy sigh escape his lips, Kaito was once again questioning how much power money really had?

Were people willing to kill their loved ones for enough money?

Even if only a fraction, maybe just a single person would be willing to do that, in Kaito's eyes, that were still too many.

He, who had lost his father far too early and who now had to leave his best friend behind, would be willing to pay any amount of money, if he could just get them back.

However, he couldn't.

No amount of money would bring his father back and no amount of money could make up what he had done to Aoko.

And Kaito was perfectly aware of that.

But despite his knowledge, he still dreamed of how it would be. How it would be if his father hadn't died.

Would he let Kaito work as assistant in his own shows? Or would he encourage his son to start his own and not be reliant on his dad's name?

Or how would it be if Aoko would actually support his mission?

If she wasn't out to catch him, for stealing her father away. If she knew of his family secret and all that is connected to it.

Would she wish him good luck and urge him to be careful before every heist? Or would she be worried enough to become his accomplice only to keep a watching eye over him?

Kaito didn't know an answer. For none of the questions.

And he probably would never know.

Fact was and still is, that his father is dead, and his best friend would hate him, if she knew what he was doing.

And nothing could change that.

Kaito would have probably continued to broad over similar topics, questioning the reasons and sense in life and death, if he wasn't rudely yanked out of his thoughts.

A police officer, one that he has never seen before, was now standing in front of him, shaking him by the shoulder?

"Hello? Somebody at home?"

Only when Kaito swatted his hand away and peered at him with a scowl, the other man stopped his waking call.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to intrude. It was just that you looked really sad and concerned there, so I thought you might need a helping hand."

" _Who the heck are you? And why didn't I notice you, when you approached me?"_

Kaito knew that he had not been that deeply emerged in thoughts, so he should have noticed when somebody was approaching him, but for some reason, this guy had slipped under his radar.

This guy, small as he was, with his dull brown eyes and the almost black hair, still had a rather imposing face, even though he didn't look cunning or smart. His manner was so casual and so laid back, as if he was at home, chatting with his best buddy about the weather or something equally uninteresting.

But under all his easy-going attitude, Kaito picked up on real nervousness. The guy did his best to hide it and, by all means, he wasn't doing such a bad job at it, but for a master of disguise such as Kaito, it was still easy to pick up on his uneasiness.

" _You're hiding something! Something big and dangerous!"_

But whatever it was, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Judging from the fact that the man appeared to be a task force member, yet Kaito had never seen him before, while taking into account that he clearly kept a big secret, this only left one conclusion according to Kaito's amateur sleuthing.

" _You're an imposter! Somebody who shouldn't be here, yet your still here. So, who are you?"_

Kaito tried to answer his own question by scanning every inch of the officer for a clue or hint, but to no avail. The coffee stain on the man's pants was far to ordinary and Kaito was no detective, who could deduce his whole life story with a simple look.

So, if looking wasn't enough, then Kaito would have to ask. Discreetly of course!

"Ah, sorry, it's just that a relative of mine had caught a pretty bad illness and I'm worried that it might only grow worse. But don't worry, I'm sure it is nothing and I'm just making things sound worse than they are."

Kaito said, while waving his open palms around in the air, all the while thinking something completely different.

" _First step: Play the innocent lamb. If people think you are innocent and pity you, they are more likely to trust you."_

"Oh no. I really hope that relative of yours is getting better soon. I already lost one of my grandparents to Alzheimer and know how bad it feels." The other youth replied, but his tone was far too cheerful for what he was actually saying.

However, this wasn't what ticked Kaito off the most, but the fact that the man's answer had been the exact same type as his own. Innocent, kind and open, inviting everybody to confide in him and tell him their secrets.

" _This guy clearly knows the theory of infiltrating a group, but he certainly has no practice."_

No practice meant that this guy was inexperienced and thus hadn't yet used what he had learnt. And that also explained why Kaito hadn't seen him before, because he was never here before. And with his behaviour just now, Kaito knew that this guy's objective was to get to know the task force and some of their members.

However, this only brought up more questions.

" _Whose side is he on? Is he after the jewel, after Kid or after something completely different? And is it just a coincidence that he approached me, or does he know that I am Kid?"_

One possible answer was of course that he is a reporter who wanted to record the heist despite the ban. Journalist could after all be quite daring, but his manner and overall appearance didn't strike Kaito as being suiting for a journalist.

If he were here to record the heist and thus land a big shot, he would bring a camera along or at least have one hidden somewhere on his person. But since Kaito couldn't see neither of those nor did this fellow move in an odd way that would possibly allow the camera to film as much as possible, he was even more convinced that this guy was something other than a journalist.

" _Is he one of Snakes men?"_

That would have been possible too, even if he looked comparatively harmless for a gangster. However, that didn't count for much, since looks could be very deceiving, as Kaito knew first-hand.

" _So, who else would want to be present for a heist, even if he was not allowed to…? Maybe a self-proclaimed detective, who grasp for his chance of earning glory and recognition now that my usual critics are not allowed to attend."_

However, Kaito didn't see a striking reason for somebody to remain completely absent from previous heist, only to now sneak in as a police officer. It wasn't easy to fake their badges or faces after all, so, either the culprit must be good at disguising, hacking or had personal connections.

" _But just hacking the databank and putting yourself into the task force won't be enough. Nakamori handpicked most of these guys after all and he would surely remember if he requested additional officers."_

And there was also the fact that Kaito was, as far as he knows, the only one capable of disguising like this AND having an interest in heists.

There were the two former students of his dad, who might be able to disguise themselves like he does, but so far, none of the two ever appeared anywhere near a heist and he didn't see a reason why that should have changed.

" _That is, if they haven't been here all along…"_

However, aside from the fact that Toichi Kuroba and Kaitou Kid were magicians, there were no connections between the two at all and his father had even gone up against Kid a couple of times.

Granted, it might have only been his mother masquerading as either of the two involved, while his dad was doing all the tricks, but the press had never even doubted the validity of the encounters, so it just made no sense for those two former students to appear.

" _So, who is left that has an interest in attending heists, the necessary connections to sneak in and the wits to disguise as one of the police officers?_

…

 _Nah, it can't be. I mean sure, she is reckless, but THIS is criminal. And she despises crime."_

Trying to assure himself that there was no way Aoko would do something like this, Kaito could only bring up prove that she hadn't been as adamant in staying away of crime than she used to.

It started by nearly getting gunned down, went over to have a rather civilized talk with him on a roof top, leading to her spying after him and listening in on his secret and ending with them cooperating to escape Snake's men.

Now that he thought about it, the media also mentioned that the emperor's chain has still to be returned, but since he handed the glass sphere along with its contents over to Aoko, after he had made sure that it wasn't Pandora, this meant that she still must have it.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that this 'new Aoko' would very possibly sneak on a heist, just so she would finally get to know what was really going on. Since Tantei-kun had agreed to give her lessons in sleuthing, a unsateable curiosity had been driving her, while her pig-headed stubbornness prevented her from turning back even when it got dangerous.

" _Oh god, please don't tell me Aoko seriously did that!"_

Kaito prayed silently, while he stared at the slightly smaller figure of the other police officer in front of him.

"Uhm, is there something on my face?" said officer asked, having noticed the strange and a bit horrified stare that was directed at him.

"AH, no, no, no, nothing of the kind. I just… ehmm… though I saw somebody sneaking around back there!" Kaito quickly ejaculated in response, pointing to a dark corner of the room, while his mind was working on overdrive.

If this man in front of him truly was Aoko, then he was in a big mess! Not only because of how dangerously clingy she had become recently, but mostly because of the danger that awaited him… and her, if she chased after him.

" _I have to get this guy off my ass! Especially if he is Aoko!"_

But how should he do that? After all, he could not just tell him to go away. Judging by his very friendly manner, it would be really suspicious if he suddenly started to be rude. Rating him out wasn't an option either, because, if he really was Aoko, then Kaito didn't dare, afraid that his childhood friend would be sentenced for trespassing.

" _What to do? What to do? I have to get rid of him before the heist starts!"_

"Ehm, I don't see anybody back there. Are you sure that you saw somebody?"

Kaito nearly jumped out of his skin, having completely forgotten about his little distraction. If not for his poker face, he was sure that he must have looked like a deer in the headlights, but thanks to it, there was no stuttering in his response.

"Ah, well, maybe it was just a reflection, a trick of the light."

But at this words, the small man's face grew serious and he quickly grabbed Kaito's wrist, dragging him over to the dark corner.

"You're right!" he exclaimed, confusing Kaito even more, "It could be trick of the light designed by Kid to fool us! He used it to hide himself."

The sheer stupidity of this statement baffled Kaito to the point where he seriously doubted whether this guy was a human at all. But then again, this could also be just an act. An act to get him into a dark corner!

"Ah wait, wait, wait." The disguised magician begged, doing his best to not get pulled along by his apparent college, "You can't just go charging in like that! Kid will immediately notice and be gone in an instant!"

This argument, as stupid as it might be since there was absolutely no way that the mighty Kaitou Kid would hide behind the curtains in a dark corner for a whole evening, caused the smaller man to stop dead in his tracks, "You're right! So, we have to gather men and surround him, so he won't get away!"

About to rush off with his new flash of genius, Kaito was barely able to hold the guy back, "We're talking about Kid here. He will just throw done a smoke bomb and escape that way!"

"Ah, don't be ridiculous, as if he could just weave his way through a line of men, while the smoke blinds him."

"Of course, he could do that! Have you never been to a heist before?"

"Of course, I have! Who do you think I am?"

" _A bad liar, even worse actor and either a stupid high school girl or a dangerous killer!"_ Kid mentally noted but was wise enough to keep the words to himself, only sending his fellow officer an unknowing, yet doubting look.

Said officers was apparently smart enough to know when he has been caught, as became evident by the now pouting frown on his face, "Ok, ok, I might have only seen it in TV, because I didn't live or work in Tokyo before this heist."

His disgruntled face, however, soon turned bright again as he declared that Kaito wouldn't find a more dedicated Kid-heist-TV-watcher than him in the whole of Japan, before he elapsed in, what could only be described as police-glorifying gibberish.

Not able to share the others enthusiasm, the young magician let the words just wash over him, while his mood grew worse and worse.

" _This guy is even more obnoxious that Hakuba on a bad day! If he isn't going to shut up soon, I'll gag his mouth with own trousers and hang him upside down from the roof!"_

But to Kaito's luck their not so silent conversation attracted the attention of a lot of other officers, among which was Inspector Nakamori himself.

"Hey you two? What is all this shouting about? Are you trying to send a message to aliens?"

Quickly changing his tone to a neutral and boring sounding one, Kaito swiftly explained, "He said he saw Kid hiding in that corner over there behind a curtain." and shortly waited for Nakamori to lock eyes with the disguised Aoko/criminal, before he swiftly snuck away.

Barely hearing how Nakamori started to question the imposter, because he didn't recognize him, Kaito only focused on getting the hell away from the two loud mouths.

" _I wasted 10 minutes quarreling with that imbecile and now I am almost running late!"_ he realized with a shock as he spared a glance at his watch.

Now every second counted as he hurried to the spot he chose to appear from, all the while paying careful attention not to seems suspicious or attract any attention.

But unknown to him, a pair of watchful eyes were already following him.

O

" _Got you!"_ Aoko mentally cheered as she managed to spot the portly figure of Kid again.

Portly, of course only, because the magician had chosen to disguise as a rather corpulent officer and Aoko was sure that he used the extra room to store his infamous tools and other stuff.

She had already been observing him for the whole evening and, while she suspected that he might had a little suspicion, he didn't confront her or even hint at it, something the playful nature of Kid would obviously have done.

But then again, he hadn't had much chance to do so, not when he was constantly kept on his toes, either with words or by dragging him through the room.

It had been an absolute blast seeing him trying to weasel his way out of exploring the dark corner, even though there obviously was nothing there. At first, she had been a little surprised by how strongly he protested and refused to even go near the place, much like he had seen something dangerous there.

But then again, he was Kaitou Kid and he surely would do such a thing to catch her off guard, only to rub it under her nose at a later occasion.

But tonight, she hadn't given him the opportunity and instead had kept her own head out of every noose.

Even when her father approached and started to question her, or rather Aoki Nakagawa, she had managed to convince him that they indeed had a talk about her admission into the task force.

If you knew how to do it, it wasn't that hard. Give your own story validity by remembering details, but still try to keep them general enough so that they happen to everybody every day. Pretend that you forgot a detail and let the other person fill in the blanks and so on. With that, her father had quickly believed her and soon remembered things he had already told her at dinner.

She had miscalculated the time till Kid's arrival a little, so she hasn't had much time to look for a good spot, but thanks to the sudden ruckus of the crowd, her dad was needed elsewhere, and she was able to latch onto Kid again.

Now, she would only need to wait and then lead a group of officers after him, while using them as cover. She had never done something like this before but having been present at enough heist to know how the officers usually reacted to somebody shouting 'Kid!?', Aoko was fairly confident that it would work.

Granted, she was more nervous, than she should have been. After all, she had planned everything through, accounted for every plausible action of the important figures.

But something still told her that tonight would be a lot different than she imagined.

One now might think that emotions cloud one's judgment and even Sherlock Holmes said so. However, this was one point where Conan didn't agree with his role model, since he had made the experience that a lot of times, you're guts feeling tends to be at least partially right, as he had told Aoko during one of their lessons.

But this was something she should ponder over after the heist has ended and when she has made more experienced herself. So for now, she shoved all those thought far away and concentrated on the task at hand.

Because in less than 5 seconds, Kid would appear!

* * *

All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.

Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part.

Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.

Farewell


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

A shudder went through the ranks of the task force as suddenly the infamous, snarky voice of Kaitou Kid echoed through the room, officially announcing that the heist had begun!

"Then come out and stop hiding, you masked clown!" Ginzo Nakamori's angered roar tore through the silence that followed Kid's announcement while the police officers started to scan the room in anticipation to the thief's appearing.

"But my dear Inspector Nakamori" Kid started to explain in a smooth voice, "As much as I appreciate your presence, without my loyal fans I don't fancy wasting my gorgeous face on police officers and assassins."

In truth, him playing hide and seek with them had obviously nothing to do with Kaito not fancying showing his gorgeous face, but with Kaito not fancying getting shot down as soon as he stood still for half a second.

After all, making a spectacular entrance with an imposing gesture kind of exposed oneself to snipers…

So, instead of his usual flashy show, Kaito planned to stay in the shadows and only annoy the police via speakers and smoke bombs, keeping his real body out of sight. He honestly expected Snake to have more than one mole in the task force and if they received order to dispose of him, the potential danger every single member of the task force posed was simply too big of a risk to take.

For now, however they haven't noticed him while he mingled amongst them. In theory the heist would be easier, since he could plan a lot more practical instead of flashy, because there was no audience to pleas. He didn't need to satisfy the public, so they would come again. After all, neither the police nor Snake did have much of a choice in that matter.

Examining the flecked amethyst, resting in front of him behind an ordinary case of reinforced glass, Kaito had a hard time keeping a suspicious look of his face. It would be just too easy to simply lift the glass case and grab the jewel, so he was sure that there was more to it than he could tell.

 _"It's no fake, of that much I'm sure, so a tracking device? If there is one, he must be hidden in the cushion, since I can't see anything suspicious. But I doubt whether that would be enough to satisfy the old Suzuki geezer."_

Casting an observing look around to make it appear as if he was just a nervous police officer looking for Kid, Kaito soon focused his gaze back on the stone before him, as all the officers frequently did.

 _"The case doesn't seem to be locked in place, but I better make sure before I try my luck."_

With that, he let a smoke bomb he placed before hand go of in a corner of the room using the short distraction to lightly bump the glass with his elbow. He could feel clearly how the whole case shifted a little, without any tangible sign of being somehow attached to the pedestal.

 _"What are you trying to pull her, old geezer?"_

The smoke of his distraction had already cleared and Kaito was still no step closer to figuring out what the police or the Suzuki advisor had set up for him. Considering for a moment whether they would be bold enough to have no security measures in place just to fool him into believing that he was unable to located it, Kaito discarded that idea quickly. In their eyes, he was a risk loving maniac, who would gladly walk into a trap, just so he could see what he was.

But while he might take an unnecessary amount of risk, stupidity was not something he could provide.

Revaluating the facts, he came to the conclusion that, whatever the security measures were, it must be hidden in the pedestal or the cushion. However, both those objects he couldn't properly inspect without getting rid of the glass case, which he couldn't since that would put the whole police force on edge.

 _"So that leaves me one other option…"_

Slipping a smoke bomb into his hand, Kaito readied himself for a quick grab and an immediate retreat.

He threw the bomb down and the cloud immediately swallowed the whole pedestal up, along with the first couple of rows of the police officers.

Now every second counted and Kaito swiftly lifted the glass case, not caring that it would fall down on the other side of the pedestal from the sheer momentum of his movement and made a quick grab.

CLACK

"I heard the cuffs! Kid triggered the automatic cuffs!"

O

All eyes were instantly one the glass case, patiently waiting for the smoke to clear while making absolutely sure that nobody could move from his spot and possibly slip away. Just in case Kid managed to escape the automatic handcuffs hidden in the specially modified exhibition pedestal.

Soon enough, the smoke cleared, and the police force erupted in loud cheers as they saw that there was indeed a startled and desperate-looking officer, who struggled to wiggle his wrist out of the cuffs iron grasp. In a fraction of a second, multiple other officers grabbed a hold of him, going as far as to even secure his fingers, so he wouldn't be able to sneak a smoke bomb or a similar trick out of his sleeve.

"What?! Let me go! I'm not Kid!" the man immediately proclaimed, his voice filled with confusion and what seemed to be earnest sincerity. But then again, the task force was up against Kid, a master of disguising, so they wouldn't take chance based on pure sentiment.

"Cease your resistance, Kid! We know it's you!" Inspector Nakamori, who had already positioned himself in front of the man, declared with a broad grin, "Who else would have a reason to take the stone out of its case?"

The stone was indeed missing and while none of the officers were able to find it on Kid's person, they all were sure he had stashed it in one of his numerous, hidden pockets.

"Now hand over the stone and we won't unmask you in front of the entire task force!" Nakamori threatened. But his warning fell on deaf ears as the thief only continued to pledge his innocents and that they got the wrong guy.

Having no other choice, Nakamori finally stepped up to the prisoner and harshly grabbed his collar. Since they could no longer find out whether it really was Kid by simply pulling his cheeks, due to him having done something about that, they had to come up with a different method.

A method that others would might see as brutish or indecent, but it would undeniably make sure, whether the person it was used on was wearing a mask or not.

In one motion, Inspector Nakamori tore open the uniform of the officer and lifted the shirt, exposing a muscular chest and an impressive six-pack a lot of girls would die to touch. So far, it looked promising, since the real Kaitou Kid must be in very good shape to pull of his stunts. But soon it became evident that something was not right.

"Where is the rim of the mask? It must be somewhere around his collar bone! And where is his suit, his tie and his cape?"

Clueless, Nakamori was searching around, even going as far as to pinch and pull the man's skin, who, to his credit, didn't yelp nor scream from the touch.

"This makes no sense!" the task force inspector exclaimed, clearly not liking the current development.

He would have probably continued his examination, if not for a sudden interjection from the crowd. The voice sounded young and rather high pitched, but there was a confidence and authority in it, that left no room to argue.

"This isn't Kid! Kid tricked us by forcing the man to touch the stone before he took it himself! Right now, he is heading to the stairs!"

All eyes turned to the mentioned staircase, focusing on the figure of an officer who had already half climbed up the steps and was now looking like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. But the apparent surprise on his face only lasted for a moment, before it was replaced with a cocky grin.

"It seems you have taught the task force well since our last round of Cops and Robbers, Inspector. Somebody figuring out my trick this fast really deserves a reward. Maybe you could give him your daughters hand in marriage?"

Such rude and sexistic jokes normally weren't part of his vocabulary, but he purposefully chose this sentence this time. Keenly observing the reaction of the imposter, Kaito was surprised to find a complete lack of emotional response.

Since most of the task force member personally knew Aoko and had an undeniable fondness for her, some even seeing her as their own mascot, a roar of indignation went through the crowd. But unlike his fellow officers who displayed undisguised rage and offense over his rude comment, the man in question, kept a completely neutral face.

This reaction proved to Kaito that he indeed was a swindler, but it also strongly suggested that he was an outsider. After all, Aoko was a very emotional person and so she should have displayed the same anger as all the other officers. But since this guy didn't show anything, Kid _was now really contemplating whether he misjudged Aoko._

 _"But Aoko has learned a lot, and she is a crafty one, so it wouldn't surprise me, if she redesigned the mask, I left with her? More so, she hates Kid, so why was there no reaction at all?" he thought, while quickly moving up the stairs._

But there was no sense in worming his brain over this, at least no right now when the whole task force was hot on his heels.

Running up another flight of stairs, Kaito threw down another smoke bomb at the top of the stairs and used the confusion to escape.

But apparently, he had underestimated his pursuers, since they quickly spread up and now a team of only six officers was after him, the probable mole among them.

Now that Kaito thought about it, wasn't he the one who called him out for his trick earlier? And now he also managed to not lose Kid in all the smoke, which spoke strongly for this guy's abilities to trail him.

"But if he never attended a heist before, how could he possibly read me that well? The only people who managed that before are Tantei-kun, that prick Hakuba and Aoko! And the first two clearly don't dress up as officers and come to chase me."

Satisfied with himself for finally figuring out the identity of the intruder, Kaito quickly derived a plan to lure him away from the others, so he could talk some sense into Aoko.

Shortly before the next flight of stairs, Kaito let another smoke bomb (he had pact plenty for this heist) go off, obscuring the staircase but leaving the rest of the corridor uncovered. This way, it looked like the only way for him to escape was to go up the stairs, but Kaito had used his smoke cover to jump over the handrails and remained hanging there, hidden in the smoke.

His own vision was impaired as well, but he saw well enough to locate the disguised Aoko and immediately put her to sleep with a tranquilizing dart. Swiftly pulling himself up to grab a hold of her before she could fall down, Kaito dragged her over the handrail and into a storage room right beside the stairs.

 _"Now I understand why Tantei-kun is so fond of those little darts. They sure are convenient and reliable. Now only need to lock the door and wait for the princess to wake up."_

And sure enough, only five minutes later the sleeping officer started to wake up, while Kaito waited, long since having locked and bolted the door.

"Did you enjoy your beauty sleep? Now, if you would be kind enough to not freak out and make a scene, we can use the opportunity to talk about the dangers of infiltrating a police operation." The thief spoke, as his conversational partner finally took in his surroundings.

Expecting to hear a snarky comment or and offended huff, Kaito was surprised when the officer stayed silent and only stared at him. Remembering how Aoko freaked out the last time they were trapped in the dark, he lightened a glow stick and threw it in front of her shoes to ease her mind.

But instead of calming down, the man suddenly pulled his gun and shot at Kaito.

O

This was pointless!

As long as they knew Kid's general direction Aoko could easily manipulate the officers by pushing and shoving them in the right direction, thus hiding herself in a crowd of other officers. But now that they no longer were able to see Kid directly, the officers would no longer follow her this mindlessly, especially not when she urged them to go back.

After all, the last time they saw Kid was when he vanished in the smoke which covered the staircase, so she naturally assumed he went up. But in retrospective, it was a quite obvious ploy to lure them in the wrong direction.

As soon as she realized her mistake, Aoko hurried back to the flight of stairs and started to look around, searching for a place to hide. Spotting the door to a storage room, probably for cleaning supplies, Aoko was about to make her way there when a gunshot rang out.

It seemed as if it came from said room, but before she reached the door, it was suddenly flung open nearly hitting her in the face. Jumping back and peeking around the corner, she saw that Kid scrambled out of the room, immediately searching for cover behind the stairs as additional bullets flew past him.

Shortly after, a young officer followed Kid out of the storage chamber, aiming at the stairs. For a moment, Aoko was completely taken aback by the officer's behavior since it was unheard of for task force members to even point their guns at Kid, much less actually shoot at the thief.

But the realisation hit her in time and she instantly knew that this guy must be one of Snakes men, sent to finally dispose of the thief. Peeking around the corner once again, Aoko found the two opponents rooted in their positions, the staircase's walls still between them.

None of the two dared to move. Kid because he couldn't risk running right in his assailant's line of fire and Snakes henchman because his position allowed him to keep watch over Kid's escape ways: one being to go up the stairs, the other being to run into the corridor Aoko hid in.

Seeing that Kid was caught in a less than favorable position, the girl had to act quickly or he might make a rushed and careless attempt to get away. But she dared not to make an open move since this would compromise her disguise and thus would land her in big troubles or would allow Kid to escape with the stone.

Finally, an idea sprang into her mind, but for a moment Aoko hesitated, since the plan was very risky. However, she saw no other option and so the risk won over doing nothing at all. She was out to play a convincing police officer after all, so she should act like every officer would.

Throwing two of her own smoke bombs, which had a much denser and longer lasting yet dirtier effect that the ones from Kid, Aoko sneaked up at the man, but she did not yet overtake him. Staring inside the cloud of smog, she was completely fixated on spotting a white blur in the mist.

And sure enough, there was it nearly making it past the girl, but she reacted in time and threw herself at him. She didn't plan on holding him down, doubting whether she could actually do this, but the short contact would have to suffice. Feeling around the pockets of his suit, Aoko's hand eventually closed around an egg sized, cold and spikey object.

Just moments after, Kid vigorously pushed her away, but she had expected as much and used the force of his action to crash into the imposter, slamming him to the ground. The smoke already began to clear, so Aoko quickly hid the stone in a special pocket embedded in the extra padding she used to hide her female body.

"WHAT THE HECK, MAN?! WHY DID YOU SHOOT AT KID?" she bellowed in the next moment, her throat hurting from making her voice deeper and more manly, while she pushed the criminal on the floor as hard as she could.

Obviously, he fought back and only thanks to her surprise attack and gravity Aoko was able to pin him down on the floor. But his resistance grew stronger by the second and her arms weaker.

He was already threatening to push her off and even though she managed to hinder him twice, eventually his natural strength won. Roughly getting thrown backwards, she landed hard on her back, pressing the air out of her lungs and as she took a deep breath, only to choked heavily from all the fumes in the air.

Her vision was blurry, and her legs felt weak and wobbly, so she could do nothing when the man hauled himself up on his feet and pointed his gun at her, face twisted into a grimace of rage and anger.

Undoubtedly, he would pull the trigger and Aoko could do nothing to stop him.

But before his finger curled enough, somebody caught a hold of his wrists, forcing his hands down and causing the bullet to ricochet from the floor, ending up stuck in the ceiling.

In the next moment, the other officers, who had heard the shots and came rushing back as fast as possible, overtook the gunmen, pressing him face first on the ground and twisting the gun out of his grip.

"What the heck is going on here?" one of them asked, his voice portraying confusion and rage over his apparent college's behavior.

"I wanted to go back down and check if Kid maybe fooled us. But when I already was around the corner, I heard shots and came back as fast as possible." Aoko started to explain, now pointing accusingly at the officer fixated on the ground while doing her best to keep her voice as deep as possible, despite her short breath. "Then I saw this guy coming out of the storage room, shooting at Kid. I immediately went and tackled him, and Kid used that moment to throw a smoke bomb and got away!"

As the officers had finished listening to Aoko, they started to question the imposter who tried to debunk her story for the moment but gave it up pretty quickly as he found no way to explain his weapon usage.

Taking his silence as a confession, a group of officers escorted him to Inspector Nakamori so they could take him to the station and question him about his boss. Aoko didn't expect him to know anything and judging from the faces of the officers, they didn't either, but it was at least worth the try.

When the group with their prisoner were out of view, the remaining policemen went back to search for Kid and Aoko took that chance to go to the roof, after having assured her colleagues that she wasn't injured and didn't need any medical care.

She intended to hold the jewel in the moonlight, to check whether something unexpected might happen to the jewel so she would know whether it was Pandora or not.

 _"If it is indeed just a normal amethyst, then the light will just go through it and turn purple, right? So how would I know when it's not just a normal jewel? Will the jewel start to glow? Heat up? Or will it even explode?"_

The last thought sent a shiver down her spine as she imagined how her hands would be torn to shreds by the fragments of the stone, plowing through her flesh and shattering her bones.

 _"Don't be ridiculous! Kid always does this, and he knows for what to look so it's surely not going to explode!"_

Calling herself a foul, Aoko was about to open the door to the roof, when she heard something. It sounded like somebody dragging a heavy object over a rough floor, apparently pausing every few seconds to take a breath or something of that kind.

Remembering that Snake and his bunch of crooks had waited on the roof before, Aoko turned the doorknob in slow motion to cause as little noise as possible. Peeking through the narrow slit, she could see a person dressed in black, dragging a huge bag after him over the concrete.

Whatever was inside of it must be pretty weighty, since she could hear his heavy breathing whenever he paused to take a rest. The most pressing question was, however, how he could have hauled that back up to the roof, without the police noticing?

But then Aoko once again remembered the fact that not all officers were as honest as they pretended to be and so she couldn't rule out the possibility of somebody let them in during the heist to do whatever they were out to do. Of course, it would be connected to Kid in some way, but it was futile to guess what it was, since she had absolutely no evidence to go by.

So, instead of dwelling on the 'what' any longer, Aoko tried to think of reasons why they were here. After all, the heist was as good as over and they had yet to act.

 _"Are they waiting for somebody? But who would that be? They know Kid doesn't have the jewel anymore, so why should they still stick around?"_

Only that they didn't know, as she soon realized.

They might have had other moles who informed them about the arrest of their colleague, if they even saw him as such, but even those couldn't know that Aoko had managed to take the jewel from Kid. She hasn't told anyone after all and the only other person who knew was Kid himself.

And he surely wouldn't tell them.

But thinking about Kid, Aoko suddenly realized how foolish it was to come up to the roof. Everybody who knew of Pandora would also know that you needed moonlight to confirm whether it was the real deal or not, so it wasn't hard to guess that whoever stole the gem would come to the roof to check.

The main entrance was swarmed with police officers and so the roof was the only place seldom enough to hide from unwanted attention, now that the moon hung high over them in the sky.

 _"But wait! They could also think a police officer took it from Kid and is now bringing it back to dad!"_

Only that no police officer would priorities an eventually returned jewel over an armed robber or a notorious thief, so it made no sense to assume that somebody else than Kid was in possession of the jewel. Since the police still must think that Kid had the jewel, the Magpies, as she started to call the men in black because magpies were also covered in black and liked to take shiny things, would wait for him to come to the roof.

 _"And Kid will come. He will come because he knows this is the only place where somebody could hold the gem under the moon._

 _The gem he definitely wants back!"_

O

In biology classes, Kaito had learned that it takes approximately 9 months before a child was born, but right now he considered the possibility of their teacher having lied to them big times!

After all, while there were at max fifty officers in the task force and only forty-five of them present for today's heist, but he felt as if he was up against at least three hundred officers. Granted, he didn't know how many men Snake manged to sneak in and after his earlier faux pas he wasn't keen on finding out, but it still couldn't be nearly enough to account for all the police men he had run into in the last 10 minutes.

They were literally everywhere, checking air vents, peeking behind curtains, stalking every shadow and even looking into the plant pots, just to make sure nobody would get past them.

Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to get himself caught by using such a risky way of hiding. Instead, he hid in plain view, strolling through the floors as if he owned them, disguised as one of Suzuki's security guards.

Unlike the police officers, they haven't done all that much, most likely because the big adviser himself was not present for the heist, but hardly because he hadn't wanted to.

From the gossip among the other officers, Kaito could gather that Jirokichi's nephew, Shiro Suzuki the chairman of the Suzuki Financial Group, thought it too big of a risk when potentially armed criminals were running about. Apparently, he had practically begged Jirokichi to step behind the security tape and the older Suzuki had conceded in the end.

 _"Next time, he will just march up with a private tank in which he can hide and be it only so he could be in the first row."_

But despite the light-hearted joke, Kaito saw how bad the signs stood for his heists. When even the fearless and brave Jirokichi Suzuki stepped back because it was too dangerous, then it was apparent how much he had lost control.

In retrospective, he didn't even know how this happened exactly. For the longest time, Snake was so fixated on staying hidden that he didn't dare to do much that was actually dangerous to Kid. But since about half a year, he became bolder and bolder, now even sending assassins after him without even caring if the police saw them or not.

Something must have happened in his organization. Something that either assured him of his safety or the organization was in trouble and needed quick successes.

Of course, Kaito would be happy if Snake and his bunch of crooks were slowly going down the drain, but he also knew that a hurt beast would be all the more dangerous.

However, this were things he had to take care of later, since he finally made it to the top floor.

Kaito still was mighty frustrated and angry with himself for letting such a foolish mistake happen to him. When the smoke had appeared, he didn't even waste a second to reconsider whether this could be a trap and charged right ahead.

But luck had been on his side and the attacker wasn't out for his life nor to hand the stone back to Nakamori, at least for now.

To be honest, he had a pretty good idea who it was that overtook him, but after he already once mistook another intruder for her, Kaito was reluctant to write it off as Aoko's doing again.

 _"Would Aoko even be strong enough to attack me like that? Sure, she isn't as weak as she looks, but I'm no pushover either."_

Still contemplating whether it could have been his best friend or not, Kaito finally reached the top of the last staircase, standing right in front of the door to the roof.

He was just about to push it open, when somebody yanked him away from it in a dark corner and now pressed him to the wall, a hand firmly planted over his mouth.

Normally, it would have been child's play for Kaito to throw such a clumsy attacker off, but the surprise along with the pair of sky-blue eyes that now starred him down, made him cease all resistance.

"AOKO?!"

He half shouted in his head, being completely perplexed with what was happening right now. He had expected her to come face to face with her, but not in a dark corner and certainly not close enough to feel her breath on his lips.

His hormones ran wild. Plunging his brain into a mess or of thoughts and feelings.

Have her lips always looked this glossy? And her hand smelled like smoke and metal but also carried a note of something which reminded him of old furniture.

He probably would have continued to enjoy Aoko's close proximity, if not for a sudden and loud clang, with which the metal door was opened, trapping them between the wall and the door.

In a split second, all the fuzz and chaos in his brain had vanished, leaving behind the calculative and keen mind of Kid. Leaning his head just a little to the side, he could peek past the open door and what he saw made the blood freeze in his veins.

A huge man, with neatly polished black, leather shoes, wearing dark grey pants and a black trench coat, stood atop of the stairs. Due to his sheer size, Kaito couldn't make out much of the man's head apart from short stubs of dark hair on the back of his head, which stuck out from under his black fedora.

But there was no mistaking the pump action shotgun in his hands.

O

Holding her breath, trying to stay as still as a corpse, Aoko dared not to move her eyes away from the huge frame of the man, illuminated by the moonlight shining through the still open door. He seemed to peer into the dark, maybe searching for an enemy or a hint of something.

Whatever it was the man appeared to be restless. Shifting his weight from one foot onto the other, before turning briskly around and marching out through the door, slamming it shut after him.

 **"How long will he make us wait? He should be long here by now!"**

Aoko could still hear him bellow behind the door, his voice deep and raspy. Probably a chain smoker as Aoko's mind provides.

Struggling a little to move her body off Kid, Aoko finally manages to stand back up, taking a few steps back. The thief, completely stunned for some reason, needed a few second, before he jumped up as well and leaned casually at the wall as if nothing has happened just yet.

If not for a rare moment of genius, she wouldn't have had the insight to take her mask off, before she saved his ass. But luckily, she had been quick enough and thus he had yet to unmask Aoki Nakagawa as Aoko Nakamori.

"To think you would be stupid enough to just charge in like that. How did you manage to stay uncaptured all this time?" she couldn't help but question, keeping her voice in a hushed whisper as to not alarm the flock of dark birds next door.

Only glaring at her at first, Kid finally musters an answer, though Aoko couldn't imagine how he could convince her of this not having been an obvious mistake. "This is reversed psychology. By making it seem as if I would charge right at the door, I put false believes in the mind of possible observes. Thus, they will be more likely to be taken aback when I then change my behaviour."

It didn't convince her at all.

She would have loved to point that out to him. Expose his completely faulty logic and be it only to flatten his ego and arrogance. They both would only get him killed after all. But in their current situation, there were more pressing matters, so she chooses to stay silent instead.

Crouching down a little, Aoko tried to peep through the keyhole, hoping to make out what the Magpies set up on this roof. Her efforts were only rewarded partially, since she couldn't spot the strange bag, she saw earlier but instead a hand full of other men, lurking about on the roof. All of them wore black trench coats and black hats, though some seemed to prefer top hats while other liked fedoras or bowlers.

Regrettably, she could not make out the faces of the men, but there was one, she recognized nonetheless: **Snake.**

He stood a little apart from the others, apparently gazing out into the night sky, but his huge build and the bulky shoulders set him apart from the others. Only the guy who just had went back to the gathering came close to Snake in size, but even then Aoko could tell them apart instantly.

She guessed it lay in the way Snake carried himself, though it could also have been her intuition, she didn't really know. Nor did she care.

All that was important right now, was that those men were obviously more than just simple henchmen. For that, they all looked too shady, too twisted and rotten. And this left only one option.

Those were Snake's colleagues and for some reason they had gathered. Gathered like a flock of vultures awaiting their next meal.

However, the girl didn't have the time to dwell on that matter, since the men, apparently feeling safe enough, started what appeared to be a meeting.

"So, where is this 'uncatchable thief' of yours, Snake?" the man, who spoke up, seemed old, his voice raspy and shrill. But despite that, Aoko felt a looming danger just from hearing him speak. He might not have been that vigorous anymore, but Aoko didn't doubt that his mind was as keen as ever.

However, it was hard for her and Kid, who also moved closer to the door, to understand everything that was being said.

The wind carried a lot of the words far away and the men kept their voices rather quiet, though it was apparent how heated the discussion grew.

From the pieces Aoko and Kid could gather, it appeared as though the criminals had gathered to see the notorious thief with their own eyes, while ensuring the capture of this precious jewel. Aoko thought this to be a very risky move, but apparently the gem was valuable enough to justify such a risk.

But that didn't seem to be all that was there, since roughly half of the other members doubted Snakes claim to how much of a problem Kid actually was. Especially the elderly man, who had spoken up first, made no secret of his doubts and even went as far as to propose the idea that Kid and Snake never actually met and all of it was just a ruse to cover Snake's own insufficiencies.

That obviously didn't sit right with the hot-blooded criminal, but despite his enraged voice, Aoko could tell that he was holding back considerably. It seemed Snake had great respect for this old man, though it could also be fear.

 _"Maybe the old man has only gathered them here, because he wants to humiliate Snake in front of everyone. If Kid wouldn't appear, which isn't that unlikely considering how much greater the danger is on this heist, Snake's reputation would be ruined! Maybe he was also the one who sent the assassin to make absolutely sure that Kid wouldn't make it to the roof"_

However, Aoko soon realized how inconsequential her theories were, since she couldn't prove them, nor would that give her an advantage right now. After all, it didn't really matter who of the Magpies was out for Kid's head.

Hoping to gather some more information, Aoko started to listen in on the meeting again. But from there one, the discussion subsided into useless quarreling, both sides claiming unproven facts and arguing with unproven theories, making it useless to further listen to them.

Apparently, Kid had a similar opinion, since he moved away from the door and seemed to look for something. Afraid to make any loud noises, Aoko poked his leg gingerly and sent him an inquiring gaze, once he looked at her. Understanding the questioning eyes, Kaito crouched down and brought his lips so close to Aoko's ear, that she could feel every breath.

He sounded so much like Kaito, that Aoko had to recall the presence of the Magpies and the fact that this was Kid, to keep herself from blushing.

"If we can guide the police up here, we could potentially arrest the whole bunch of them! But we have to act quick or else they will slip away in the dark."

That was an option Aoko hadn't thought of yet, but just after she grasped the immense possibility, she also noticed the huge risk.

By guiding the police here, either she had to go and talk with her dad, which was a huge risk for herself. After all, there was no reason for him to blindly listen to a freshman officer and thus Aoko would have to reveal herself, if she wanted to convince him. The other option was however that Kid had to pilot the police by running ahead of them, putting him right between the two fronts of armed men.

Both ideas seemed too risky to take, yet the chance was just too tempting to pass up. There had to be a better option. An option that didn't put her nor Kaito in so much danger yet let them lure the police to where they needed them.

She had to come up with a plan.

A really good plan or she would be forced to risk it all.

After all, letting dangerous criminals get away wasn't an option.

Not for her and neither for Kid.

* * *

One might expect it to be rather hard to find a single police inspector in the midst of a dozen other officers, but Ginzo Nakamori was not just any police inspector. Even from the third floor, his booming voice was audible enough to understand what orders he gave to his officers, while it was almost deafening to stand next to him.

But humans have the ability to get used to a lot of things, including absurdly loud noises. Especially if they have grown up with constantly hearing them it was almost like a pleasant homecoming. Granted, her father was not always shouting his head off and, as long as his temper didn't flare up, he wasn't louder than any other father.

Nonetheless, Aoko had heard his tirades often enough, so that she didn't even flinch while grown men left and right to her visibly winced at every syllable. She was once again wearing her disguise as she walked up to her dad.

Stopping right in front of him, Aoko waited for a pause in his flood of words, so she could deliver her very important message. To all others, she must have looked like the embodiment of calmness and confidence, though there was an air of importance to her that nobody could have missed.

But under the mask and the painfully strained face beneath it, Aoko's emotions were a sheer turmoil. Some people think, presenting oneself and giving a speech in front of the own school class is unnerving, but that was nothing compared to her current situation.

One wrong word, one slip-up, one misstep could get her exposed. So, she concentrated her complete mind on keeping up this act.

Of course, she knew that this was the perfect job for Kid, a master in disguise and acting. But in order to convince her father, even the thief's acting skills were not good enough. After all, while he certainly knew a lot about her father, there was even more that nobody outside the family knew, not even Kaito. And it wouldn't do for the thief to get caught, not right now.

She needed him later.

And so, it was an absolute necessity that Aoko would be the one to speak with him.

Sighing inwardly, she finally saw her chance, as her dad had to take a huge gulp of air to keep up his roaring monologue.

"Inspector Nakamori!" she quickly interjected, cheering silently for not calling him 'dad', "I have urgent news for you!"

Motioning a senior officer to take over, her dad stepped down from the table he used as podium and turned his full attention on Aoko, "What is it? Come on, spill it already if it is that important."

"Ehm, right away sir, but the news is a little uh. . . confidential. "

Inspector Nakamori first raised an eyebrow at this, but he seemed to get what Aoko was playing at, since he motioned her to follow him.

Leading his, still disguised, daughter to a police van, he gestured her to enter, only to follow right after her and close the heavy door.

Now, in the dim light with the muffled sounds of officers doing their work outside, Aoko knew the big moment had come.

 _"It is now or never!"_

Not even giving her father a chance, she immediately started her report in hushed tones, but with audible urgency in her voice, "It's the men in black, the ones that were on a Kid heist before! For some reason, a huge number of them has gathered on the roof."

Her father eyes went wide, only to narrow to slits again as he started to speak "Hold on! Why would they be here? And on the roof of all places? Why not in a hotel nearby? And why were you yourself even up on that roof? Haven't I given orders to secure the other escape ways to force Kid to fly away?"

With each word her father spoke, the situation grew dire and dire. If the police had planned to force Kid to escape via the roof, then there was no way they could have missed the Magpies up there. That was only possible if somebody in the force was covering for them.

But one person wouldn't be enough for that, not by a long shot.

And that meant something even more terrible: there were many other moles!

Of course, that was a possibility Aoko had already considered, since she and Kid had accidentally stumbled into the group of infiltrators back at the heist for the emperor's necklace, which she had yet to hand back to the owner. Aoko had thought more than once about how strongly the task force was infested by the Magpies' spies, but it was still shocking to get her worst suspicions confirmed.

But on the bright side of things, not everybody could be corrupted.

Especially not her dad.

"I heard strange noises from the upper floors, and I thought it might be Kid who was tinkering with something that would allow him to escape in a way we haven't anticipated. But when I went to check, I saw those men that dragged a heavy looking bag towards the roof and when they opened the door, I saw a lot more behind them on the roof!"

Aoko had really tried her hardest to make her answer sound genuine, but it was apparent, that she didn't have enough training yet. Her voice had wavered a few times during her speech and her father didn't look convinced at all.

For a moment, Aoko even though that he had recognized her voice, but when his face only grew sterner and he shifted his body into a cautious stance, Aoko knew that that couldn't be the case. Her father might judge her severely for what she did right now, but he would never hurt her.

"I gave strict order to NOT enter the most upper floor, even if Kid were to run there! Not ONE of my men would disobey that order, so tell me. . . Who are you?"

His body was tensed, and it hadn't slipped Aoko that he moved his hand closer to his breast pocket where his gun hung in its holster. Realizing that trying to keep her act up would only endanger her even more, Aoko had to give up.

"Ok, ok, dad." She spoke, no longer masking her voice and reaching up to slip the mask of. This would get her into serious troubles once they were back home, but if that was what it would take to catch those criminals, then so be it.

 _"Bye-bye, Aoki Nakagawa."_ she thought briefly, _"And thank you for your service."_

Upon seeing his daughter's face, the older Nakamori grew pale, his hands stopping mid-air, while he stumbled a step back.

"Aoko?!" his eyes grew wide and Aoko could practically see the internal struggle behind them, but who could blame him for that? He had just witnessed how his own daughter, the child he had brought up to uphold the law and trust into the police, commit a serious crime, not only going against the constitution but also his own morals.

But she knew her father well enough to predict that the shock wouldn't last for long. His ears already started to grow red as a tomato and his cheeks grew livid with scarlet. But before he could verbally lash out, Aoko beat him to it by speaking up herself.

"I know, I know! I'm not supposed to be here, this is against the law and I'm in serious trouble! But dad, you taught me to stand up for what is right and just. So, when I heard what those guys were playing, I just couldn't sit tight!"

 **"AOKO! This is not about justice! Why are you even here? I told you to…"**

But the girl had already stopped to listen. She was sick of being babysat, sick of being politely shoved, only to see authorities fail again and again.

 **"You told me to stay away, wait at home for you to come back, be the good little girl and let the grownups handle this!"** Aoko screamed, interrupting him mid-sentence, but she didn't care.

All her life, for as long as Aoko could remember her dad telling her so, he had preached to her that criminals can't be forgiven and that it was the job of the police to apprehend them.

Yet there was another message that Aoko was beginning to realize contradicted the other. It was also true that it was the duty of every single citizen to help them do so. One should do his best to uphold justice, stand in for the weak and help the poor.

 **"But dad, nobody came as close to catching him as me! Nobody, not even Conan-kun, can recognize him as quickly as I can! So, why keep me out, when I'm the one who has the best chance at catching him? Hasn't that been your goals for years?"**

 **"Of course, it has! But not at that costs! I wanted to make the world safe for you! So that you wouldn't have to fight against crime. That is the responsibility of a parent."**

She wanted to believe in his words.

Believe in them like she has done, when she was still little. Believe that he would take care of things and keep her safe. Despite the many shortcomings he had and despite leaving her alone after her mother died, she still looked up to him. He was her dad and hero, the same man who visited every school play and never missed her birthday, despite all the work he did for the police. The hero who fought against evil day and day again for justice's sake, not caring if his name was mentioned in public or not.

But she was no longer a small child. And Ginzo Nakamori was no longer her hero

 **"You know as well as I do, that this won't work. Criminals and crime will exist, be it because of corruption or necessity! You taught me that everybody needs to make the world a better place, but now you want to punish me for doing so?"**

 **"Making the world a better place and venturing out to commit crimes in the name of good are two completely different things! Your reasons might be noble, but this is going too far! What makes you different from other criminals like Kid?"**

 **"I don't steal for myself! I don't do this for the thrill! I do it because it's the right thing to do!"**

Her lungs hurt from the screaming, but she knew that now it counted. If she gave in right now, then all would be lost.

Expecting his retaliation, she already prepared to debunk his arguments.

But there was no retaliation.

He did scream at her, didn't tell her that she was wrong.

He only looked at her. Looked at her with sadness in his eyes.

"Sadness for what?" she asked herself.

It didn't make sense. Why should he not be angry and frustrated? Furious that all his hard work as a father had just went up in flames?

But she didn't get the chance to dwell on that any longer as he addressed her the next moment. His voice calm and silent.

"Are you sure about the men in black on the roof?"

Aoko needed a few moments, before she registered the question, but then she answered with a confident yes.

"Then let's not waste this opportunity." And with that, he turned around and left the van, marching back to the main hall.

Puzzled, Aoko didn't know any better than to follow him.

Has she managed to convince him? Did he forgive her, or did he simply understand that he couldn't make her understand right now?

Ignoring the confused and surprised looks the other officers sent her, she followed her father on his heel.

As soon as they entered the main hall, Inspector Nakamori started to bark orders "Yamabuchi, take squat A and secure the western staircase. Ashimura, take squad B and secure the eastern staircase. Onimatsu, take 3 man and secure the elevators. The rest, follow me!"

Quickly all the men stopped googling at them and moved into action. In minutes the main hall was nearly empty as the whole force had gathered where they were supposed to, advancing shortly after towards the roof.

On the whole way, nobody stepped in their way, as Aoko followed her dad and the remaining officers up the main staircase. Moving upstairs at a steady and fast rate, it didn't take long till the force had reached the uppermost floor and swarmed out to secure all the exits, surrounding their target.

But before they all were in place, a noise from outside grew steady in its volume. At first nobody really knew what it was, but it didn't take long till everybody knew that it was a chopper.

"Shit, these bastards try to get away! Move out! Arrest them! If they fight back, you're allowed to use force!" Inspector Nakamori bellowed in his walkie talky and shortly after, hell broke loose on the roof.

Staying back, safely on the floor below the roof, Aoko couldn't tell which side started to fire. The whole building was soon flooded by the firecracker like sound of guns going off and men screaming their last breaths out of perforated lungs. As she took in the horror around her, the horror she caused, Aoko could do nothing but wait as the lives of officers she had known for a long time were snuffed out, while other policemen turned around in shock and started to shoot at their comrades.

She couldn't tell how many traitors there were, nor who it was, but there were more than a dozen. The whole fight grew even more chaotic as the normal gun fire was drowned out by the roaring staccato of a heavy machine gun.

Now it was clear to Aoko what object the Magpies had hidden in the bag.

Men fell on both sides, screams, gunfire and sounds of destruction merging together, creating a horrible piece of pain and agony.

Blood splattering could be found everywhere, as men came limping back down to treat their wounds. But most weren't as lucky and were torn to shreds by bullets. The smell of iron and gunpowder was everywhere. The air grew thick with smoke as the helicopter blew the cloud from the roof and down onto the floor beneath.

As she numbly witnessed the massacre take place, all Aoko could do was cower behind the staircase, pressing her hands on her ears, eyes shut. It didn't help. Nothing could keep the screams out of her head and her lungs hurt and rebelled against the heavy smell of smoke and the nauseating stench of spilled blood.

Hell continued around her and death had a plentiful harvest.

O

Eventually the sound of guns subsided, and the smoke started to clear, leaving behind a battlefield littered with corpses and shells.

Ginzo Nakamori emerged from behind the corner he used as cover. A bullet had graced his left arm and the white shirt was now stained in a dark-red colour. But he didn't care for such a scratch, not when his men were scattered on the ground, being lucky if they still could scream in pain.

"Inspector!" Onimatsu called as he rushed to Ginzo, "We captured five of the criminals. Two are gravely injured and need immediate care."

The police inspector only nodded at his subordinate, indicating him to bring them down and lock them up. While sergeant Onimatsu and a few other men took care of the criminals, Ginzo himself gave order to first treat the injured and afterwards gather back on the parking lot of the building.

Over the next minutes, countless officers came walking, limping and some even crawling towards him, making their ways down towards the ambulances that had been called.

Apparently, the bullet-proof vest and the squad shields had done their job, and there were far less casualties than he had anticipated. But in his eyes, every dead man was one too many.

Trying to not think of the consequences, the uproar this would cause in the press and the radical steps the police would have to take, Ginzo went back to where he had left his daughter.

The girl was still sitting where he had left her, looking around, her eyes widened with horror, tears swelling up. But as soon as she spotted him, she wished them away, rose to her feet and followed him down the stairs.

"Let's go home. We will talk about all of this tomorrow." Ginzo softly spoke, not stopping on his way down.

Both of them didn't speak a word, despite the many things they had to tell each other. Ginzo knew that his reaction was justified, but he couldn't help but think that he had been too harsh. For a moment, he considered refusing to punish her, since the hell she just lived through must be worse than any punishment he could burden her with. That, however, did hardly matter now, not after all his men had seen Aoko her.

He would have some explaining to do.

Possibly losing his job, but that was a price he would pay gladly if it meant that no consequences would fall on his daughter. She was all on this world that was left to him. And under no conditions would he lose her too.

* * *

As they stepped out of the building, many officers had already gathered, helping each other's in treating their injuries. But nobody talked.

The losses of tonight weighed to heavy on their minds and blood-soaked hearts, and Nakamori didn't miss the resentful stares some directed towards him. Especially the newly joined officers who always seemed to blame him for being at fault when Kid escaped but the hateful eyes didn't just rest on him. Many also lingered on Aoko and that was what hurt the inspector most.

But what should they think otherwise? Aoko wasn't supposed to be here, but as soon as she appeared, the inspector sent them in what must appear like a death trap. And it didn't help that many officers suddenly switched sides and gunned their comrades down. Their trust in him must be shattered.

Another problem Ginzo didn't want to think of right now.

He only wanted to go home, take a much-needed shower and go to bed. But he knew that he was owing his men an explanation.

Taking a deep breath, he stood in front of them, waited till all eyes had settled on him and nobody was speaking. But as soon as he wanted to explain, the soft voice of a girl interrupted him.

"I'm sorry."

His daughter's sincere voice carried the words over the whole place, letting everybody hear her apology.

An apology that came from deep within her heart. Taking the complete fiasco this evening was on her own shoulders, even though it wasn't her fault at all. But it appeared to Nakamori, as if there was more to it.

But he didn't get the chance to dwell on those thoughts as she continued.

"I'm so sorry, but I know that nothing I could say would be enough to make this right. I thought I knew what was going to happen. I thought I did the right thing. But today has shown me, that I knew and still know nothing."

She turned her head away from the men, now looking up at the full moon as she continued.

"If I just had known… known what this really meant. I would never have dared to take it this light!"

She stopped, probably gathering her breath. But as she continued, gone was the softness in her voice. Gone was the sadness, making place for determination.

And gone was the girly voice.

At first, Ginzo couldn't believe his ears and judging from the expression of the other officers, they couldn't either.

"But I won't be obvious any longer!" Kid declared, stripping the disguise away from his body with one swift motion.

"Today has only happened, because I was unable to live up to my name and that's something that can't happened a second time."

He turned around, his cape flaring out behind him, face still hidden in the shadow of his hat.

"I swore that nobody would get hurt on my watch, yet I didn't prevent today's massacre. My words are not enough to express the sorrow I feel for the men that fell nor can I every atone for this with anything. But I will seek revenge!"

"I will not rest until I brought all of them down."

"I will, even if it cost my life!" Silence lulled as Kid hesitated to continue speaking, his usual pomp and showmanship muted. ". . .Because that's all I have left. . ."

Paralyzed by the sudden revelation and confused by Kid's speech, the officers slowly registered that the magician had tricked them. Played them all for fools, by pretending to be the inspector's daughter.

And before they could even do as much as lift a finger, Kid was gone, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.

Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part.

Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.

Farewell


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

In a frantic rush, Aoko had charged down the stairs of the great skyscraper, which hosted today's Kid heist. One again having put her mask back on, she made up some confusing orders her dad may give and yelled them at the officers in charge of guarding the gate, as she sped past them.

The guards didn't even try to stop her, too confused by the whole situation, but the reporters waiting on the outer side of the police barricade wouldn't let her pass that easily. Bombarding her with questions, Aoko pushed through them, telling them that they should ask Inspector Nakamori, when he came down.

While some particularly clingy reporters followed her, most lost interest and aimed their camera's back at the main entrance of the building. But even those that had followed her at first gave there chase up after a few steps and turned back, leaving Aoko to her search for a taxi. But as her luck would have it there were none around.

One would think that a gathering of police and reporters would prove a good spot to earn some extra cash for a taxi driver, but either Aoko missed some big clue that spoke against it or she would make a fantastic taxi driver. Anyways, since her search was fruitless, Aoko racked her brain for alternative means of transportation. But aside from going to the next train station, she couldn't think of anything.

That was until she spotted her reflection in the darkened window of a very fancy looking sports car that was parked right beside her.

 _"Of course! I'm still a police officer. I can just ask somebody to drive me somewhere!"_

A content smile crept on her face, but it vanished instantly as the glass panel, she had just stared at, was suddenly lowered and she came face to face with 'Mister Handsome'. Or so he looked.

"Can I help you officer?"

The man asked in a smooth and natural voice and his blue eyes seemed to glim in the moonlight. His blonde hair was a stark contrast to his light brown skin but added to his handsome features, doubtlessly bringing girls all over the world to swoon over him. But that wasn't what interested Aoko, as her mind had switched from shock to embarrassment and finally to realization. This was the perfect opportunity!

"Yes!" she exclaimed, her voice high from the exhaustion in her lungs and throat, "I need to get to this address as quickly as possible! Can you help me?"

As she showed him the scribbled-out address on the police notebook, an amused grin spread on his lips as he motioned her to get inside.

"I must say, your handwriting is really pretty. I wouldn't have taken it for the writing of a guy, but rather from a high school girl." he laughed as he started the car and the engine roared with a nice and deep sound. Aoko was about to retort that she was a high school girl but stopped herself in time as she realized the meaning of his words.

 _"Of course, you dummy! Every fool can tell the difference between the handwriting of a girl and of a guy! How could you be so stupid to not think of that!"_

While she mentally kicked herself, the driver had moved the car out on the street.

"Fasten your seatbelt and don't panic. I know what I'm doing"

Aoko was just about to ask what that meant, when the engine roared to live, and the car took off like lightning.

The ride was a mixture of roller coaster and action movie as the driver, who casually introduced himself as Amuro Tooru while he rushed them at neck breaking speeds through the near empty side streets of Tokyo, suddenly started to lecture Aoko on tips and tricks for car driving.

"People usually think that the fastest way to reach their destination is to take the direct route, but it's important to pay attention to other factors as well."

He took a sharp turn to the right, Aoko getting squished to the window, before he suddenly turned left again, leaving her flailing for something to grab on as to not crash into him. While Aoko barely managed to stay in her seat, Amuro seemed little concerned by neither the street nor his passenger and continued his exploit.

"Take Tokyo's traffic for example. Even at night, the main streets are crowded, and you can only make slow progress. But the side streets are next to empty, thus you are faster in reaching you final location if you actually drive around more. Sometimes, you even have to drive in the wrong direction at first to reach your goal as quick as possible. Sounds' paradox, right?"

The last part, he said with another of those amused smiles of his, while he briefly turned his head to Aoko. The disguised girl would have screamed at him to keep his goddamn eyes on the road, but she was too horrified from staring at the street before them and praying that nothing may happen.

Amuro weaved the car through alley after alley, took corners and let them glide over nearly empty parking lots, till he finally made a sharp turn and the car slithered to a halt.

"We have arrived!" he declared with a content smile on his face as he spared a glance down to his watch, "8:39 minutes. I think that was my best till now!"

All Aoko could manage was a horrified glance towards him, her hands still gripping the leather of her seat, as she finally uttered some words, "You do this often?!"

Amuro only laughed at her expression. It was a hearty and honest laughter. Not one that made her feel as if he would make fun of her. Nonetheless she wasn't tempted to join in but instead remembered the cause of her hurry.

"Right, anyways. Really thank you for the ride, I really appreciate it."

And with that, she quickly opened the door and started a brisk walk down the sidewalk, towards her home.

"It was my pleasure! But don't tell your superiors!"

Amuro called after her and with that, the engine roared to life again and the red sports car took off and rushed down the street Aoko assumed they came.

 _"What a strange man."_

Was all she could think, before he vanished into the night.

* * *

Aoko had deliberately chose not to let Amuro drive her to her doorstep for quite obvious reason. But the last 5 minutes of walking went by in a flash, as she recollected the things that had happened tonight.

Once at home, she quickly hid her mask and clothes in her secret lair, before stepping into the shower.

Only now, that she stood under the warm comfort of the shower she was used to and as the familiar smell of her apple shampoo tickled her nose, did she realize what exactly had happened this night.

What she had done.

Not only had she managed to trick Kid, steal the jewel right off him, but also get away without being found out. Letting Kid take over for her as soon as the arrest started.

When her father had gone up the stairs to support his men, the Phantom Thief appeared out of the dark, clad in his own police uniform. His usual cocky smile plastered over his face, he hushed a 'run ahead, little princess' to her before the mask of Aoko's own face slipped over his.

With that, their switch had been complete and all Aoko needed to do was to get home fast and pretend to never have left the house. It made her proud that her plan had worked that well. This way Kid would get all the blame for whatever happened, and her secret was safe. Everything turned out fine.

But as the warm water ran down her body, Aoko remembered the screams and the shouts.

The pain and agony the officers must have felt, as they were gunned down. Also because of her. If she hadn't told her dad about it, all those brave men would still be alive.

 _"But all the criminals that were caught can no longer do any harm. So, it was the right thing to do… was it?"_

She was torn. At the time, it seemed to have been the best option and she was sure others would say the same. But Aoko was not content.

She just felt that there were things she could have done to help them. Giving them better info, distracting the Magpies with a smoke bomb or just help leave some bandages.

Her hand curled into a fist and she gritted her teeth. No, it hadn't been enough!

How could it?

Countless men, men with family, officers with wives and sons to parents, all died. Whipped of the earth forever. Lost in a neglectable fight over a stupid rooftop.

She didn't kid herself about that.

Maybe they caught a high-ranking agent of the criminal organization. Maybe they slashed a gap in their ranks, but for what? It would hardly take more than a month to fill it back up. To send a new monster to prey on innocent and exploit the weak.

She could feel a fury grow in her. A fury at herself for letting something like this happen. A fury at the Magpies for being such bastards. A fury at Kid for having dragged her dad and her into this.

And a fury at her dad. A fury for letting this happen. For sending his men on the slaughter bank, perfectly knowing that not all of them would come back.

 _"What will he tell their families? That he is sorry for their loss? That the man died fulfilling his duty? That his death made the difference?"_

None of it would make it up. She knew from her own experience that no amount of words, action or presents could fill such a hole.

When her mother had died. Succumbed to an illness engraved in her genes, Aoko had accepted it as fate. Had mourned for her and cried at her funeral. But no number of tears and screams could fill the hole in her heart.

When Kaito's dad died. Killed by one of his famous tricks, she had questioned it. She and Kaito had spoken again and again about how this couldn't have been a mistake of Toichi. About how somebody must have sabotaged the show. But no amount of conjecture and theories could fill the hole in their hearts.

And now that those officers died. Slaughtered by men who only thought of money and riches. Praised and honoured by their superiors. Payed for with compensations for their families. But no amount of money or gift can fill these new holes.

With a loud thump, her fist came down on the wall. Pounded it over and over, each time more violent than before. But it didn't change a thing.

The wall didn't budge.

Nor would reality do so.

In face of that undeniable fact, her anger and fury slowly subsided and left only an empty feeling in her chest.

Was it all pointless? Was everything she did till now, all the training with Conan, all the work she spent on her mask and gadget, for nothing?

After all, she hadn't been able to change a thing. Kid would have noticed the Magpies without her intervention and probably found a much better way to deal with them.

Even the jewel, which she was so proud of having stolen from him, would ultimately have been returned anyway.

And worst of all, she nearly got herself caught. Not only endangering her fathers' career but risking breaking his heart.

When she thought of him again, how he had bellowed at her in the back of the police van and when she had shouted back, she couldn't help but feel lost.

All her life long, she had thought him to understand her. To always be on her side and support her, whatever might come. But truth was not this kind.

"How could I ever expect him to understand this?" she asked herself, a smile of self-mockery now on her face.

"How could he understand, when he has believed in the police for his whole life?"

And why couldn't she do the same?

She was certain that all her life, she has held up justice and the law. Has played by the rules, be it at school or at home.

 _"When did that change? When have I started to doubt?"_

Had it been because of the training with Conan? No, that wasn't it. Conan himself might not be as straight up as her father, but he would never commit a crime. Especially not if it hurt others.

"Ran-chan is the same in that regard. No way she would ever do something like this."

With Ran and Conan out of the picture, Aoko knew that only one other person remained: Kid.

But how was that possible? How could he warp her views and influence her this much, when she only ever faced him as an enemy.

Only, she hasn't.

Remembering all the heists she came close to him, Aoko quickly realized that their shared moments consisted mostly of talking or cooperating with each other.

Only today and at her first heist at Conan's side, did she chase the thief. Even so, today still ended with her cooperating with him once again.

The realization hit her hard. How couldn't it, when she just discovered that all she had done till now, basically went against what she tried to achieve. Namely to catch and put Kid behind bars.

"It can't be! That's not what I wanted!"

But all denial didn't help her. Not when the evidence was this overwhelming.

"When? When did it happen?"

Aoko was now frantic, clutching her head, trying to recall every last conversation with Kid. Searching for when she had strayed from her path.

Eventually, she recalled the black diamond and how she first learned of Pandora. Remembered Kid, standing in front of a steep cliff, surrounded by foliage and trees.

 _"The little clearing near the plane memorial!"_ she recalled, seeing the scene now clear in front of her eyes.

The old and twisted forest, with its thick undergrowth and how she cowered there, hidden beneath the leaves of a bush. The moon illuminating the brilliantly white cape and tuxedo of the magician, shining through the diamond and casting tiny specks of light all over the clearing.

She could see how Kid turned his hand and the little sparks danced over the ground, the grass, the trees…

And over the group of men clad in black.

It was as if she awoke from a dream again, everything clear once more.

"Of course! Kid is not the evil guy in this story! He is only trying to keep the jewels away from them!"

How could she have forgotten something this important?! Even though this heist lay months back, this was the reason why she started all of this.

Because she knew the police was powerless. Corrupted to the core and thus held back. And suddenly she also realized what she had done tonight. By pressuring her father into confronting and arresting the man in black, she had taken any chance for the corrupt higher ups to intervene.

To the Magpie's this must have been a huge blow. Their protection against the police had failed and the cost were half a dozen members, now waiting for their process.

"There's no way, they'll just forget this! Not if somebody like Snake is in their ranks! He surely wants revenge!"

Revenge on her father.

And he didn't know a thing about this nor could Aoko tell him.

If she did, he would undoubtedly question from where she knew this. And as soon as he would suspect her of actually having been at the heist this night, he would never listen to anything she ever tells him again.

So, she had to safe him, but there we're only two ways to safe him. Either get him to quit chasing Kid and that was never going to happen. That much she was sure. And so, there remained one other option.

She would have to watch over him in secret.

And that was only possible, if she was present at the heist.

A sigh escaped her lips. Contrary to how it might look, she didn't turn against his wishes lightly. After all, he was still her father. And despite the shortcomings and flaws he had, Aoko loved him and would always be grateful to him.

Now forgoing him like that just made her feel awful.

But in her heart, she knew this was what she had to do. Never would she forgive herself if her dad was hurt, because she didn't choose to protect him.

And what had Amuro said again: "Sometimes, you have to go in the wrong direction at first to reach your goal."

O

The heist was long over as Kaito slowly trudged back to the quiet neighbourhood he had always known as his home. The moon hung low in the night sky, his silver light illuminating the streets and gardens, painting the world in faint and cold blue and deep black.

But Kaito had little appreciation left for the beautiful sight, not after the horrors he had to witness. The screams and shouts still echoed in his mind, but it wasn't their piercing sound that made him grit his teeth.

For that, he wasn't naive enough. Long ago he stopped to believe in the fairy tales and Kid's 'nobody gets hurt' policy wasn't any different from them. A noble idea, but as fictional as the tales of dragons, princesses and witches.

No, the thing that haunted him was much more real.

A fear he had harbored since he first took up the white cape his father had left him. It was this fear that made him expose himself more and more. That made him take the riskiest gambles only to find this bloody-cursed gem a little faster.

He even excluded the public, the best protection he had for himself and the officers in the task force, from his heist, only to prevent it from happening.

 _"Why? Why didn't it work? Why has she to be so fucking stubborn? Why can't she just stay away?"_

These thoughts haunted his mind, plagued him since he first confirmed her presence and distracted him ever since. When he nearly walked in on the men in black, he was only thinking of her, only to be stopped by her in the last moment.

When he took the blame for deceiving her father and ultimately sending countless officers in their doom, he had only wished to protect her.

Even now, as he should hurry home and think of who could have taken the jewel from him, all he could think of was Aoko.

How her messy hair would sway in the wind.

How her lips would curly up in one of those smiles that made his heart beat faster.

And how her sky-blue eyes would stare at him, dragging him ever deeper and never letting his heart go.

But this had to end!

Kaito, no. KID could not allow a single high school girl to endanger everything he has worked for.

If she continued to stick her head out, only for Kaito to dive in and drag her head out of the noose, then he had no other choice but to ensure she stayed away himself.

If the wishes of her father no longer let her slow down, if Conan wasn't enough to keep her staying back and even the threat of jail couldn't keep her away, then a dosage of sleeping gas would have to do the trick.

It pained him. It pained him that he would have to resort to such means, and he knew how it would hurt Aoko.

But he had already decided that her life was more important than their relationship.

O

It was already a quarter to four when Ginzo Nakamori finally arrived on his doorstep. He had intended to rush home as soon as the heist was over, make sure Aoko was safe. But the reporters wouldn't let him just leave like that and after their endless prying and questioning was over, Nakamori also had to directly report what happened this night to his superiors.

The deaths of eight officers wasn't something the headquarters could take lightly, not when they died in pursuit of an unarmed thief. Of course, they had demanded an explanation and thus, Nakamori had to recount every little detail of the evening.

Living through the whole night again, the inspector had expected to grow even more anxious about the well being of his daughter, but the contrary was the case.

Reviewing everything again made him realize that there was no way Aoko could have been there. She was not capable of disguising as a policeman and infiltrate the task force. Neither did she have the knowledge of how to build a mask nor would she be able to masquerade as a man. After all, she was only a high schooler and not a famous thief and trickster.

Relaying the whole incidence to his superiors, Ginzo was convinced that Kid had played him for a fool the entire time. And he only told him about the men on top of the roof, to get rid of his rivals. After all, it wasn't the first time Kid's interest had reportedly collided with their interest, so it was no wonder he would want to take them out.

In the end, the chief of Division Two, which was responsible for theft and robberies, seemed satisfied with Nakamori's report and he was dismissed to go home and take a long-deserved shower.

And that was exactly what Ginzo intended to do, when he slowly and carefully opened the door and entered. But on his way to the stairs, he noticed that the kitchen light was still turned on and for a moment he expected Aoko to have waited for him.

But when he approached the table, all he found was a tray, wrapped in plastic foil with a little note on top of it.

Just put it in the microwave for 3 minutes AFTER you have unwrapped it.

-Aoko

He couldn't help but smile to himself, as he put the tray back down and went to take a shower. But before that, he slightly opened her door and whispered a barely audible 'thank you' before he closed it again.

Unknown to him, Aoko was not sleeping.

She was thinking of how she could give the jewels back that still lay on top of the small worktable in her secret room.

* * *

As the early sun rose above the horizon and cast its shining rays over the city, an obnoxious ringing could be heard in the room of a young high school girl. Aoko held out for barely a minute, before she got up with a big yawn and turned the annoying noise off, which originated from her alarm clock.

It had only been a couple of hours since she had gone to bed and it wasn't like she couldn't use some more sleep, but there was much that she had to do. Her father was still snoring soundly in his room as Aoko walked slowly down the stairs and prepared a small breakfast.

Leaving some for her dad, she made her way down into the basement, where she quietly pushed the fake wall of the huge closet away and slipped into her hideout.

Everything was exactly as she had left it behind and thus the 'Phantom's heart' sparkled brightly under the light of the single bulb hanging freely in the room. It almost seemed to call for Aoko, to dare her to touch it. For no particular reason Aoko expanded her hand and let her finger rest on the stone.

It felt as if a small current flowed through her fingertips.

But nothing else happened.

Letting a breath escape she had held in, Aoko couldn't help but be a little disappointed. She had asked herself throughout last night what she would do if it really were this 'Pandora'. Would she even notice it was the real one?

Or wouldn't even that be enough to tell her if it was the right stone?

This anxiety frustrated her and there was nothing she could do about it. A quick internet search last night had yielded no answers, only bringing up Pandora's box and various fictional characters and objects, none helping her in the slightest.

Only now, that she properly thought about this, she realized that she didn't know what to do once she found the jewel. She didn't intend on keeping it, not wanting to become a real thief, but if the Magpies were after it, she couldn't give it back either.

"Maybe I could ask Kid…" Aoko mused, but she discarded the idea immediately. As if Kid would tell her something like this. The least he would ask as payment was that she would hand over the stone. Not to say she thought Kid would harbour any evil intentions, but her trust in him wasn't sufficient enough to hand such an important item over just like that.

No, there had to be other ways to find out. Ways that would give her the information she needed, without sacrificing too much.

And Aoko already had an idea how that could work.

But that would have to wait for later, since there were still many things, she had to take care of, before her plan could work. First on her to-do list was fixing her equipment and expanding it a bit.

After all, Aoki Nakagawa was no longer in service to the police. Not after some poor secretary was sent to dig up the files of the officer Kid had impersonated and found that there never was an Aoki Nakagawa who had applied to the task force.

But that wasn't a problem at all, since Aoko had already destroyed all traces of how she had accessed the system, thus they couldn't locate the security breach and find out who had 'invented' Aoki. Besides, she had already registered another fake identity and was even able to supply it with a somewhat convincing background.

At the very least Nakami Kuro, as she named the female officer, would require a rather careful background check to expose her as fake. Managing that had been a rather easy feet, since she just had to create a police file of Nakami Kuro, which would always be found first by the polices search engine, should any officer look her name up. She even managed to fake a birth certificate and get her hands on a copy of a police academy graduation paper.

So only if somebody checked government's database would they be able to prove Nakami Kuro didn't exist. And it would take weeks if not months till such a request would be answered by a government official, which surely dissuades anybody from trying if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

The only thing left for her to do now, was to finish the mask. Since her new fake officer was supposed to resemble her more closely in stature, she had to make sure that the face looked different enough, so nobody could mistake her for who she really was.

But there was something else that concerned her, namely the police uniform. For Aoki Nakagawa, she had borrowed an old uniform of her dad, but now that she played the role of a female officer, it would get noticed if she wore a male uniform at least one size too big.

The best way to get around this problem, however, was one she didn't fancy to take. The police had a stock of uniforms for most sizes, handing them out to newly appointed officers on request. But who in their right mind would march into the police station with a fake identity and have the guts to ask for a new uniform?

 _"Kid would probably do so."_ was what immediately sprang into her mind, but she quickly banished the thought from her brain. Now was not the time to think of the infuriating thief.

While Aoko had sat in her little chamber and thought about all the problems and challenges that still lay before her, her fingers had been busy smoothing out wrinkles and attaching little hairs to the facial region, eventually finishing the mask. As she held it up against the light to make sure that it looked convincing, she couldn't see any noticeable flaws at first, but there was only one fool prove way to make sure.

Turning on the small crocked stool, Aoko now faced the large mirror that belonged to her mother and slipped the mask over her face.

At first, it had pained her a little to see the old piece of furniture again, reminding her of better times long past. But eventually it had lost this faint echo of a long-lost history as she had used it when making Aoki's mask.

Out of said mirror now starred a young woman back at her. A rather plump face, with light brown hair hanging down to her shoulders and dull green eyes blinking out of a not too light but not too dark complexion made her look exactly like what Aoko intended. An unimpressive, every-day face, nobody would bother to remember for long.

Checking her new face over in the mirror again, Aoko couldn't spot any noticeable signs which would suggest a disguise. She had always been gifted when it came to fiddling around and working with her fingers, but it was still an impressive feat to fabricate such a well-made mask.

But now was not the time for self-complimenting, but to test the mask for what it was intended to do: namely trick civilians and police officers alike.

Heaving a last, resigned sigh, Aoko raised herself from the chair, turned the lights of and went up into her bedroom to pick out a suiting outfit.

It was time to visit the police station.

* * *

A little breeze blew through the streets of Ekoda, pushing white, puffed up clouds over the sky, which would occasionally cast a shadow on the ground below. It was early afternoon and many people enjoyed the mild weather by going for a walk in the local park. Children were running about, playing Hide and Seek while their parents chatted with each other, always watching over them. A group of teenagers hung around behind the toilets, pouring soft beverages out to each other while complaining about school.

Their ranting could still be heard as Aoko was greeted by an elderly couple, seated on a bench at the side of the path, apparently enjoying the sun. They briefly talked about the weather and how nice it was to enjoy a walk outside, before they bid their farewells and Aoko moved on.

Peeking back over her shoulder, she observed the seniors for a while, looking for any notable signs of them having been put off by something about her, but to no avail. Much like everybody else she had meet before, nobody seemed to pay her any second thought, much less think her suspicious looking.

Pleased by the success of her disguise, the disguised girl finally made her way to the police HQ, already making plans in case somebody saw through her. She already had noted the bushes beneath an open window on the left side of the building and the ramp leading to the underground car parking, before she entered the building through the main entrance.

Slowly approaching the desk, she began to lay out her words and came up with various excuses and explanations for possible questions and oddities. There was no queue before the counter and Aoko was eagerly greeted by an overly motivated young man, beaming at her with a bright smile.

"Good morning, how may I help you?" he asked, practically brimming with energy and vigour.

"Uhm, good morning. I was recently accepted as an officer here. I was told to come and fetch my new uniform." Aoko answered, speaking with a slight country dialect she had picked up from her former biology teacher, while putting heavy emphasis on sounding insecure and a little confused.

For a moment she feared that she had laid on a bit thick and was about to turn around and march away, but the clerk responded immediately.

"Yes of course. Could you hand me the ID-card that was sent to you via mail?"

Now it counted! Aoko knew about the ID-card of course, but in order to get her hands on one, she would have needed to go through the official recruitment process and there was no way she could forge papers for that.

However, she also knew that officers could ask for a new card, should they lose the old one. Of course, she hadn't lost a card either, but if the clerk checked the system and found that no card had been sent to her, he would have no choice but to hand her a new one.

That was, however, only if he didn't question the apparent system error and went to ask his superiors about it. Then it would eventually come out that no Nakami Kuro had ever been accepted into the Kid task force, since nobody had held the required interview with her.

So, Aoko knew that she must convince this man in some way to hand her the card, whatever it may take.

 _"The only way to achieve that, however, is if he is convinced that not reporting this to his superiors will be beneficial to him."_

Aoko was nervous. In theory, she knew what she had to do now. But it was a completely different thing to actually pull it off. Of course, she had practiced at home, played the scenery through in her head time and time again. Changed small details to not get to reliant on the ones she thought of the first time but, in the end, it only came down to her acting skills.

Widening her eyes in confusion and uncertainty, parting her lips a little and taking in an audible gasp, Aoko gave her best to appear surprised and confused. Leaning a little backwards, breaking eye contact and instead starring up into the air, it would have convinced anybody that she was just caught off-guard.

"An ID-card . . .?" she made a pause, briefly looking back into the man's face before letting her gaze wander aimlessly once again," I didn't receive any ID card… There only was the letter of acceptance, telling me to come her today." she finished, having raised her voice a little and now cutting her breathing short. All signs of obvious distress.

The clerk regarded her with a puzzled look, before he turned back to the monitor and seemed to sort through some database, while starting to explain to her, "That's unusual. Of course, it could be an error in the system, or the package might just have been lost, but I haven't heard of this happening before."

Aoko didn't miss the faint trace of distrust in his voice, didn't miss how his eyes narrowed a little. Was it out of suspicion? And did that officer, who was previously leaning casually against the wall of the room, not come right towards her? Did the clerk signal to him in any way? Or had he already triggered a silent alarm?

Sweat now started to trail down her face, hidden from the outside by the mask and Aoko couldn't help but feel watched. The tipping sound of hands on keyboards suddenly seemed far louder than before, coming from all around her.

She picked up on small scraps of conversations, drifting through the room, talking about the weather, work and other everyday topics. A secretary seemed to complain to a co-worker about her boyfriend, though Aoko couldn't tell why.

But didn't just somebody mention a young woman at a desk?!

And there, hadn't somebody just proposed an arrest!?

The air in the room seemed to grow thicker and thicker by the second, giving Aoko the feeling of being surrounded by enemies. Had they already seen through her disguise? Should she flee? If she did that, there was no way she could come back and explain! Too suspicious.

But if she stayed here and they turned off the automatic doors, she would be trapped inside the building.

 _"Where is the emergency escape? Are there smoke detectors nearby, which I could trigger? The route to the elevators will be swarmed by officers in a minute! But couldn't I just take the mask off and pretend that I was just here to see dad? No wait! He's still sleeping soundly at home! Damnit! Maybe I could tell them that I should grab something for him. But my lie will get exposed if the ask him! Shit! SHIT! What to do?"_

Her mind ran in overdrive. Concocting desperate plans for escape and laying out blueprints and memories to get a detailed plan of the building. She remembered the small storage room for cleaning supplies on the second floor, possibly a good place to hide. The one with the lose air vent. And there was also the window in the sixth floor, that was right above the roof of the neighbouring building. It would hurt, but she could make the jump.

"Miss? MISS?" a voice rang out to her and Aoko snapped back to reality.

"Hmm? Oh, excuse me, I must have spaced out." Aoko answered, only realizing after she had already spoken the words, that it was the clerk who had asked her something. Her breathing had accelerated considerably, and she hear her blood rushing through her veins. However, some things where strange.

She had expected to find her hands trembling and her muscles convulsed. But quite the opposite was the case. Despite the adrenaline rush and an amount of pressure she thought she could feel on her shoulders, she was near perfectly calm. Her breathing had already started to grow slow and steady again and even the emotions she felt, weren't how they should have been.

Of course, there was fear. Fear of getting found out. Of getting caught and locked up in prison for the rest of her life. But despite that, she didn't feel like running away.

There was this other emotion, she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but this feeling told her to keep on going. To see this through and not yield until she got what she had come for. Especially when the thing she wanted was right below her nose.

The clerk now held the ID-card up to her, looking with concern at her.

"Are you sure, you are alright?" he asked now, all suspicion gone from his face, "You seem to be a little stressed. Don't worry about not having received a card, that was a mistake made by our system. Normally, our central computer automatically creates the IDs for the new recruits and the officers only have to send them, but in your case, the computer didn't register you as a new recruit, for whatever reason."

He now smiled at her, reminding Aoko of a grade-schooler teacher having to explained to a child that it wasn't his fault. Extending her hand, Aoko took the card from him, having regained a composure so completely, it felt as if she could command ever single muscle in her body.

It felt good.

But she had no time to dwell on this feeling and instead pushed it away to worry about later. Thanking the clerk for his service, Aoko then looked around a little cluelessly, before she asked him for directions. He kindly pointed her the way to the equipment office in the left wing of the building.

Biding him goodbye, Aoko made her way over towards the corridor he had pointed out to her, the strange feeling still lingering in her heart.

* * *

The rest of her trip into the den of evil, or good in this case, had been remarkably unremarkable. There was no problem getting a uniform that fit her and nobody seemed to bat an eye that she registered far later than anybody else. Apparently, the clerks here were quite used to chaotic rules and unexpected procedures.

Barely an hour after she left the house, she was already back, the uniform hidden in a bag below a t-shirt and a sweatshirt she bought along the way in case her dad was already up and about. But apparently the restless night hit him way harder than it had hit Aoko, since he was still snoring of in his room.

Quietly tiptoeing down the stairs, Aoko paid great caution to not cause any sudden and loud noises. Only once she had safely entered her secret chamber, she let a sigh escape her lips. Storing the uniform in the drawer of a small dresser, Aoko felt a wave of relief rush over her. The hardest part was done.

Some people now might interject that simply stealing a police uniform from the station was much less of a risk than going up against armed criminals, but to Aoko it was no the danger that counted. Being more tomboyish than was good for her, she was used to getting hurt a little and her countless run-ins with the Magpies already taught her what they were capable of.

She knew it was dangerous.

But getting caught breaking the law was a thought far more frightening to her. Aoko didn't want to die nor did she fear death, but getting locked up, robbed of her freedom and labelled a criminal hit her far deeper than the prospect of death ever could.

If she died, her friends and family would weep for her, but ultimately keep her in mind as a cheerful, innocent and righteous girl, who died trying to make the world a better place. But if she was arrested and locked up in a prison cell, her friends and family would constantly be reminded that she was neither righteous nor innocent, but a convict criminal.

Her death would make the people around her suffer for a short while.

But her capture and conviction would break them for years to come, always reminding them how wrong they were to trust her.

No, death was not what Aoko desired, but capture was what she absolutely had to prevent from happening.

* * *

The days seemed to stretch on endlessly, every day being filled with the same things.

Getting up in the morning, making breakfast, forcing Kaito to get up as well, walking to school with him while insulting each other, siting through the most boring school lessons, chasing Kaito through the classroom in their breaks, eat lunch with her friends, surviving the afternoon lessons, getting home, doing her homework, doing research on the Magpies, cooking dinner, wrapping a portion up for her dad, doing a little housework, practicing some magic tricks and other things to stay in shape and finally go to bed.

Kid hadn't put out a heist note in weeks, Keiko, who didn't have the 'natural talent' of Aoko, as she called it, visited cram school and had barely any time to just chat with her, much less hang out and even the laziest and smartest school magician, Kaito Kuroba, was always busy.

The only things interrupting those stale weeks of repetitive tasks and events, where Aoko's lessons with Conan. Her young sensei seemed blessed with too much free time in the evening, so Aoko would visit the detective agency every other day.

There, the hours seemed to just fly by, as Conan kept her on track with ingenious riddles worthy of Kaitou Kid, deep and controversial conversation and gossips stories from school and other sources. Ran would join them occasionally, mostly in the gossip part and enrich the conversation with tales from Sonoko Suzuki and her eccentric ideas.

Those were really pleasant times for Aoko, having found a similarly thinking teacher in the little grade-schooler and a similarly feeling friend in his guardian. Even the loud arguments between Mouri-san and his daughter, didn't faze Aoko any longer, though she still felt quite awkward in these moments.

One evening, when Mouri-san was out playing Mah-jong, and the two teenage girls sat along with Conan at the low table in the Mouri's living room, the topic of conversation shifted over to everyday chatter.

"Still, what are you doing outside of chasing thief's and taking lessons from Conan-kun, Aoko-chan?" Ran asked

Aoko, currently busy chewing one of the delicious cookies Ran had served, had to swallow hard and nearly choked on the cookie. Coughing like a chain-smoker, she gulped down the contents of her cup of hot tea, now seeming morel like an alcoholic, before she could muster and answer.

"The same as you I guess", she croaked in a raspy voice, before clearing her throat and continuing, "Dad is rarely home, so I have to cook and do the house chores. Then there is Kaito, mostly home alone and he never does housework, so I occasionally go over to clear out the worst trash. Aren't you doing the same for your boyfriend as well, Ran-chan?"

Ran's cheeks flared in bright red at that, as Aoko had already anticipated, but even Conan seemed strangely embarrassed by that remark.

"Shinichi is not my boyfriend" the Mouri girl finally sputtered her cheeks still tinged in a light pink, indicating that there were unspoken things that she felt for her friend.

"Besides, he has been away for over a year now and only calls in around once a week." she continued, her voice growing quiet towards the end, a tone of sadness accompanying it. In all appearance, Shinichi's absence hurt her more than one would think and Aoko couldn't help but feel pity for the girl.

Granted, Kaito had been very busy lately and was completely obvious towards her own feelings, but unlike Shinichi, he was at least around. Aoko could always just call him or go over to visit him, if she felt a need to assure his presence. Ran couldn't do that.

The karate championess had already told Aoko that Shinichi had his phone turned off most of the time and even when he called, Ran felt as though he was hiding something from her. To top it all off, since her confession nearly two months ago, Shinichi hadn't turned up anywhere.

And so, Ran could only wait.

It saddened Aoko to know that her friend had to feel that way and she was about express her sympathy when Ran spoke up again.

"But enough of this for now: Don't you have a significant other, Aoko-chan? The way you always talk about Kuroba-kun, you two must be far closer than just normal childhood friends, right?"

The sudden change in topics completely stumped Aoko, so she missed the opportunity to answer before Conan could.

"Yeah, I heard you two are famous throughout your school for your mop chases!" he interjected, voice bubbling and high pitched, almost artificially so, like you would expect from a grade schooler.

"Mop chases?! What is that?" Ran asked, but not directing her question at Aoko but at Conan.

"Ah, you know. Kaito-niichan always plays tricks on her and then Aoko-neechan gets mad and chases him with a mop!" the boy was quick to explain, seeming almost eager to keep Ran in a good mood.

Ran lifted a curious brow at that, "Tricks? What sort of tricks?" she asked and just when Conan was about to answer, Aoko realized that it might not be that smart of an idea to let others hear that she was telling Conan of how Kaito flipped her skirt.

Scrambling to get an answer out, before any of Conan's remarks could set Ran's motherly instincts off, she simply interjected "He's a magician! You know he does card tricks. Let's doves appear out of thin air and so on."

"A magician?!" this caught Ran's attention, since she loved to visit magic-shows, "How nice! It must be awesome that you can always ask him to give you a private show. Is he good at it?"

"Well…" Aoko hesitated for a moment, unsure what she should make of this development, "He always calls himself the best magician in Japan and frequently claims that he's better than Kid. But they haven't actually squared off till now, so…"

She omitted the fact that she suspected them to have squared of a number of times, just when nobody was looking. After all, she feared it wouldn't sit that right with Ran or Conan to know that one of her friends was such a huge fan of the thief and actively broke the law just to meet him. Then again, Conan has done much the same for a long time, so she wasn't entirely sure how they would react.

However, she didn't care that much to find out.

But from Ran's reaction, she almost wished that she had at least hinted at it, just so Ran wouldn't get that excited about the whole thing. The girl was practically brimming with anticipation.

"That's awesome!" Ran declared, now leaning over the small table nearly spilling her drink, "Even if he might not be as good as Kid, the fact that you even consider comparing them speaks a lot for his abilities."

That was something Aoko hadn't thought about till now. Since Kaito has always been around her, she had always taken him and his tricks for granted, never really noticing how extraordinary his talents really were. After all, while his tricks, disguises and voice imitation weren't perfect, there was nobody else except Kid that could even begin to compare.

"Yeah you're right" Aoko spoke softly, a small smile creeping on her face, "he really is awesome. Ill-mannered, boastful and pig-headed but still, when it really counts, he is always awesome."

For a moment Aoko reminisced in her past, recalling a certain memory that featured Kaito's broad grin. Their first meeting, when she had lost her parents in a crowed and was miserably crying, he suddenly stood in front of her and presented her a rose.

This had always been a very pleasant memory to her and just thinking of it, she could sense a warmth spreading in her chest. She would have loved to dwell on it a bit longer, but then a soft snickering brought her back to reality.

In front of her, Conan displayed a broad smile, while Ran chuckled slightly, both looking at her with an amused shine in their eyes.

"W . . . what? What is it?" she questioned, feeling as confused as she must have looked. The two opposite of her held their silence for a few seconds and only sent each other meaningful glances, before they seemed to decide on something as they shared a deliberate nod and turned back to look at Aoko.

"It's nothing." Conan declared, his voice innocent and sweet, so much so that every girl there is would have started to swoon over him. But while his manner might have been perfectly executed, he still wore this broad and naughty smirk on his face.

Aoko held the stare of his blue eyes for a second, glaring daggers at him, as Ran suddenly interrupted their silent standoff.

"Since you're so fond of Kaito-kun, you really have to introduce him to us one day. I'm sure he and Conan would become friends really fast." the Mouri girl argued, unable to keep another smile from spreading on her face.

Aoko however wasn't that sure about the two boys hitting it off that well. After all, there still was the fact that Kaito was a huge fan of Kid and Conan didn't exactly have the highest reputation among the thief's fans, though many seemed to honour him as a worthy rival of their thieving idol.

Nonetheless, Kaito didn't seem to take kindly to detectives, at least from what she could tell from his relationship with Hakuba. Nor would Conan be pleased if Kaito tried to distract him with a little magic trick, as he usually did with children.

 _"No, the two will probably hate each other to the guts… and if not, their combination would be unbearable for anybody else involved."_

So, Aoko had made up her mind.

There would be no meeting.

But just as she wanted to declare so, her phone gave an audible chime off which she instantly recognized. Immediately Aoko fumbled it out of her pocket, noticing in the corner of her eye that Conan was also staring at his phone.

"There is a new heist note of Kid!" he declared, his voice brimming with anticipation. Apparently, the little sleuth didn't have much to do either and was glad about the distraction Kid's riddles provided.

 **Kaitou Kid announced his next heist!**

Yesterday at 5 am. a heist note has been delivered to the police headquarters, directly addressed to Inspector Nakamori. The note contained the usual riddle Kid uses to communicate the date of his next heist and police has already been working on it, but to no avail so far. The members of Kid's dedicated fan club "Kid-Fan-Gang" already declared over a post on social media that they will try as well to crack the code. More ever their post explicitly challenges the famous 'Kid-Killer' Conan Edogawa to see who would be first to crack the code. It is however unlikely that Conan-kun will accept this challenge as he has never done so in the past, even though is chances of winning would be almost guaranteed.

The rest of the article then recounted the rivalry between Conan and the thief, while grossly exaggerating details and facts to make the story as dramatic as possible. Aoko however didn't care for any of that and impatiently scrolled down till she found the contents of Kid's note:

 **An old silent safe…**

 **A thief breaks into the safe**

 **Crack! Silence again.**

 **Police searchlights-**

 **A fae spins silently**

 **On the dancefloor**

 **In the wealthy hall**

 **These brilliant white lilies**

 **A lovely moonrise**

"Oh, so he went for a Haiku poem this time around?" the voice of Conan piped up from across the table, followed by Ran pointing out that it seemed very well composed, all things considered. Aoko took a second glance at the lines and she couldn't else but agree with Ran. But she was hardly out to appraise the thief's lyrical knowledge and thus quickly shifted her focus from the form towards the contents.

"The meaning of the first verse is quiet obvious" she started her analysis, voicing her thoughts out aloud for the others to follow her reasoning, "the second and third seem to hint at what he is going to steal along with time, date and place."

Pointing at the screen of her phone Aoko stopped speaking for the moment as she thought things over, completely obvious to the fact that Ran was craning her neck to see what the other girl was pointing at. Eventually Ran gave up and looked back down at Conan's phone as Aoko continued "The police searchlight might imply that the gem will be put under tight security or that it has some connection with the police. I think the fae part has a similar meaning, while the dancefloor might be a hint to the gem's history. Who knows, maybe it was first awarded as the price for winning a dance competition."

"Good guess, but likely wrong." Conan chimed in, his voice thoughtful and lower than usual making him appear far older than he actually was, "Kid rarely integrates modern history in his riddles and instead more often choses myth and legend as basis. Combining the spinning fairy and the dancefloor, it might mean that the fairy is the one dancing or that fairies dance at the day he comes to steal the gem."

Aoko was already tapping away vigorously on her phone, running a google search for 'dancing fairy' and similar combinations of the word "There seems to be no date that is known as 'fairy dance day', but fairies and pixies in general seem to adore dancing"

She was scanning the Wikipedia article now, looking for more explicit lines about the fairies dancing habits. Similarly, Conan was engrossed as well in some article about Nordic folk lore describing fairies gathering and dancing in the night. Silence eloped the living room where the three had gathered, only broken by an occasional mutter of Aoko or Conan. This continued for a minute, before Ran got up with a tired sigh.

"It seems this is a little out of my league, so I'll go do my homework in my room. Good luck to the two of you" she explained in a tired voice, before she added a little sharper "And Conan, you as the host are responsible for Aoko-chan's well-being, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Got it Ran-neechan." Conan replied not even looking up from his phone as Ran walked away, shaking her head over Conan's lack of manners once he was engrossed in a mystery.

* * *

"I GOT IT!" Aoko exclaimed over an hour later so loud that it most likely startled Ran in her room and let the customers of the 'Poirot' turn a curious glance towards the roof.

"What have you got?" Conan was quick to ask, about to get to his feet as he noticed how Aoko had flopped onto the table, face down.

"I got that I don't understand it!" she declared.

Conan could only arche a curious brow at that, sitting back down on the couch "Why? We know Kid's gonna steal the 'Ballet de fées'. We know the white lily hints at the children welfare ball, which is held in the hall named after Matsuo Basho, who composed the original Haiku Kid's poem is based on. The next moonrise is also a very accurate date and it can only be in the evening, since you can't see the moon during daytime."

"I know! But it makes no sense why Kid made the riddle this easy." The girl shot back, her voice muffled due to the fact that she still lay face down on the coffee table "This riddle is so easy, even my dad is bound to eventually figure it out!"

This only earned her an even higher raised brow from Conan "I always regarded inspector Nakamori as one of the more capable inspectors there are. And shouldn't you be a little more supportive of your father's abilities?"

Aoko only grumbled a little at that "I know, but it is true that my dad is bad at this whole riddle thing" she only slightly raised her head to look Conan in the eyes, before continuing "he's not the type to sit back and think but to charge forward, dragging others with him."

"I guess that much is true." Conan conceited before his gaze trailed back down to the paper in his hands. He kept quiet for a couple of seconds before proposing another theory as to why the thief made this riddle much easier than usual.

"Maybe he really wants to keep the public out as much as possible. If the task force has to rely on others to solve his riddles for them, then that's one more person who has to know about the heist." He paused, one hand on his chin, before he continued, "Or, and that seems very possible as well, it's not Kid who posted this note."

This got Aoko's attention as she instantly got up from her position sprawled on the table, "Why do you think so?"

"For one, the riddle seems fairly easy," he began in a serious tone, then smiled apologetically "but that could have other reasons. No, what seems really suspicious to me is the timing. First there is no note from Kid for weeks, as if he was preparing for a big coup and then he only announces that he will storm a charity ball?! Hardly a though nut to crack, nor is there any personal reason he should chose this gem."

This made sense as Aoko thought. Not only was the target rather uncharacteristic for Kid, since he preferred to haunt the filthy rich and greedy people, but it didn't seem to be much of a challenge either. An idea suddenly sprang into her mind and she instantly began to key away on her phone.

Conan followed the fast movement of her fingers for a second before he continued to lay out his theory, "Furthermore, while a Kid heist raises the security around the gem overall, most of it will be focused on Kid's flashy performance, which often leads to chaos and disarray. This provides a good opportunity for other thieves to steal the jewel, provided they do not wait too long for Kid to snag it away."

He interrupted his speech as Aoko held her phone with the screen towards him, apparently having found what she was looking for. The display showed an article from around a week ago, covering how the beautiful 'Ballet de fées' was displayed during the Tokyo ice skating championship.

"If Kid had wanted to steal the gem, there would have been no better stage than this event." Aoko pointed out. Conan interjected that maybe the thief was bad at ice skating, but they both soon shared a short laugh over how ridiculous this notion seemed.

"You're probably right" Conan picked up where they had left of after their short chuckle, "This further seems to point at the possibility that this note wasn't sent by Kid."

Aoko could only nod at that, now fully agreeing with her sensei's reasoning. "But why exactly this gem? Why would somebody want Kid to target a charity event?"

"Well, the gem is worth a lot of money, but there would be other target's even more valuable, so that's probably not the case…" Conan trailed off, signalling that he was open for suggestions.

But sadly, Aoko couldn't come up with any reasonable explanation for why somebody would want Kid to target the jewel and it was already getting late. Judging that she had already overstayed her time in the Mouri's care, Aoko was also glad to give her mind a rest from the hours of thinking she had done. Rising from her seat, Aoko bid her goodbyes to Ran and Conan and was about to see herself out, when Conan interrupted her.

"I'm going to look into this a little more. I'll text you if I find anything." he said while slowly and absent-mindedly waving her goodbye. Aoko found the gesture to be absurdly cute and as soon as she had closed the door behind her, she couldn't help but let a quiet 'awwwww' slip her lips. Her sensei surely was adorable at times.

But the good feeling from this thought didn't last long, as she soon was pondering once again over why somebody would want to involve Kid into this event.

Yet she couldn't reach a satisfying conclusion by the time she reached her home and decided to drop the matter for now. The growing headache was also a good incentive for that.

 _"Who knows, maybe Conan-kun will find something."_

* * *

All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.

Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part.

Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.

Farewell


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Not this either!" and with that Aoko threw her hands up into the air, flopping back on her bed, sending sheets of paper flying and floating all throughout her room.

The kid heist was due in a few days and neither she nor Conan had managed to get closer to Kid's true motive for stealing the gem. They both still ran with the theory of an imposter sending the note to lure Kid out, but while Oda Yamuzuki, the owner of the gem, had more than enough enemies, none seemed to be the type to send a thief his way, especially if said thief was known to hand the stolen goods back.

So, the only option left was that somebody wanted to test their iron against the thief, but if that was the case, it was practically impossible to determine who that might be. After all, thieves weren't generally known to publicly show off their profession nor their next target, aside from Kid himself of course.

And that meant, all Aoko and Conan could do was wait for the day of the heist and see what it would bring. However, since the risk of attending had risen so much, because once again the public wasn't allowed to watch and thus Aoko would have to break the law again and sneak in, she was really reluctant to go in not knowing what would await her.

Of course, there were still other preparations she could make. Things like memorizing blueprints and devising ways to safely escape, but Aoko felt as if this wouldn't be enough. If a similar situation to last heist occurred, she couldn't afford to play the same trick again, above all because he likely wouldn't work.

Kid helping her if people were in danger was one thing, she was rather certain off, but her dad trusting her again this blindly, if there was the possibility of her being Kid, was something she couldn't see happening again. Her dad might not be a genius detective like Hakuba, but he was not stupid either.

 _"There has to be a way to throw others off!", Aoko thought to herself, "Some way that nobody would look to me if something suspicious would happen."_

The situation was even more pressing since Aoko suspected Conan having gotten suspicious of her actions as well. During their last meeting, he seemed to always be staring at her, out of the corners of his eyes and was pressing her a little to reveal her own plans.

Aoko thought she managed to hide every concrete sign of what she was truly planning, but it was certain Conan had at least some suspicions.

 _"But what is he going to do if he figures the truth out? Would he have the heart to hand me over to the police?"_ , that was something Aoko couldn't really imagine. Granted, Conan held law and justice high, but even higher he held his friends and loved ones and Aoko was pretty sure he already considered her as his friend.

 _"Most likely, I'll get an ear full and he would come over every heist to make sure I can't attend. That's more Conan like."_

She had to smile a little at that thought, seeing the grade-schooler stand between her and the main door, spreading his arms out to keep her from leaving. But as adorable as the picture seemed, she couldn't let that happen. Not only to keep her secrets save, but she would also feel incredibly guilty if she ended up dragging a grade-schooler in her own mess.

He already had his fair share of troubles, so he didn't need her to burden him even more.

Which brought her back to her main problem, how to prevent anybody from figuring out? There had to be a better option than simply claiming she was sick and tired, pretending to go to bed early and leave a dummy in her bed. Every half smart person knew of this old trick and would make sure to look beneath the covers.

Could she lock the door? No, that would be even more suspicious, since she had no real way of answering… or did she? Suddenly, a plan began to bloom in her mind. A plan that would allow her to answer the door without even being in the house. But even that plan wasn't without risk, yet it was better than taking no precautions whatsoever.

Starting to riddle her brain for how best to make it work, Aoko raised herself from her bed and was out the door the next minute. She had some things to buy.

* * *

As usual, the loud chanting of the Kid fan crowd was deafening loud, even though there were locked away 300 meters (328.084 yards) down the road, where the police set up the barricades. With her new and real police ID it was child's play for Aoko to get through the heavy security and she didn't even need to resort to her real identity to get inside.

This wouldn't be possible anyways. For one, civilians were no longer allowed to enter the building of the heist, and that included her, and two, she had just told Kaito and her dad, that she was ill and would stay at home. So, her newly acquired ID was the only way to enter.

Not that she expected anything else. Exactly this has been the reason why she went through the trouble of getting one in the first place. Not only did it allow her to get inside at all, but it made the whole process a lot quicker, less embarrassing and much safer.

At least that was the theory. In practice, when she showed her ID to the guard men, it felt like an eternity till they finally nodded and let her through. Not to mention that she felt as though her heart was about to leap out of her chest. She didn't feel safe at all.

But, unlike Aoko's feelings told her, there weren't any problems and she was left through without so much as a comment that she must be new. Taking that as a good sign, Aoko still hurried to get to the building, not wanting to give the guards any chances to order her to stop. This must have looked to the guards like she couldn't wait for her chance to catch Kid.

As she finally reached the museum, Aoko was greeted with a sight she thought of as impossible. Men and women, clad in neat evening gowns stood around tables set with little appetizer and champagne, chatting away with each other about god knows what. Between the adults, children of various ages ran and wobbled around, laughing and joking while others starred wide eyed up at the adults.

It appeared as though they were admiring the beautiful dresses of the ladies and the silky suits of the gentlemen, even though their own wardrobe was nothing to sniff at either. Still, Aoko couldn't help but notice how misplaced some children looked. They played around with the frills and ties of their attire or had smudges of icing sugar and whipped cream all over their faces.

 _"_ _What's going on? Aren't civilians banned from heists?"_ Aoko questioned, looking around in hopes of finding an answer. She must have made quite the lost figure there, since she suddenly felt a rough hand on her shoulder. Immediately whirling around, Aoko found herself staring up at the grinning face of an elderly man.

He obviously was a veteran officer, with white hairs spotting his Grey mustache and many wrinkles encircling his eyes. His mouth was twisted into a warm and genuine smile while his touch on her shoulder was neither tight nor rough. All in all, Aoko couldn't judge him any different than a friendly and joyful person.

"Yer ferst time around here, lass?" he asked her, his voice deep and full. "Don'tch ya worry 'bout it. At ferst it's queite overwhelmeng for everebode, but eventuelly you get used to it."

His accent was heavy, but Aoko could still understand him fairly well. "Ah, no . . . I mean yes. It's just . . I'm a little confused why all these people are here. Weren't civilians banned from the heist?" she asked, falling pretty effortlessly into the style of speech she invented for Nakami Kuro.

Her senior seemed to have expected this question, since he only barked out one short laugh, before he answered her, "That was the plan, but ya can't relly ban the people who set up thes ball from it, can ya?"

"Ohh, so these are members of the Okotoma children's welfare organisation?!" Aoko realized, letting her gaze once again drift over the different people, "And the children are the ones the organisation takes in."

"Yer reight, lass.", the officer replied "we alredy treyed to convence them of leving, but the donator of the gem wouldan't hear none of et. He saed thet he couldan't leave the safete of his gem in our hands, when we failed to catch Kid thes often."

Though Aoko knew how sensible this mindset seemed, she also knew that the bad hit-record was not due to the task force being bad at their job, but due to Kid being so freakishly good at thieving. The owner of the 'Ballet de fées' wasn't the first nor would he be the last person to learn that.

"Have there been any suspicions as to who Kid might be?" Aoko asked the older policemen. After all, while the task force may have a bad record, there was no denying that a couple dozen of eyes would see more than one pair could.

"Notheng relly, I'm afraid." the man, who would be her senior replied "There is this fortune-teller, hired by the organization, but he seems ta be the real deal."

That got Aoko curious. Though Kid seldom chose an obvious disguise, when he did it was often so conspicuous that nobody really bothered to check since it seemed so stupid. 'Reversed psychology' Kaito had called this once and Aoko had to admit that it made sense. So, she decided to double check and make sure Kid didn't try to pull the wool over their eyes, by barely trying to hide himself.

Asking the senior officer for direction, claiming that she was curious, Aoko soon found herself guided to the main hall, where the jewel was kept. The inside was predictably very crowded, but one corner seemed particularly overrun by men, successfully blocking every clear line of sight.

Heaving a sigh, Aoko got to work at squeezing herself through the silent and unmoving crowd, hoping to find the entertainer she was looking for. And safe enough, when she finally could see past the wall of bodies, she glimpsed the lean figure in the velvet clothing. The person had their back turned to her, but there was no way Aoko could mistake this distinct hairstyle.

O

When Kaito had first decided to attend this heist, he feared it would be even harder than the last time, owing to the fact that the police should now be a lot more concerned about possible intruders. But thanks to the pig-headedness of the gem's owner, it had become absurdly easy to infiltrate the building. All he really had to do was to apply for a position among the staff, payless of course, and he was sure to get the job.

Rich men after all, as rich as they were, they still loved to safe every penny they could. That might be the reason why they were rich to begin with, but Kaito was not here to learn the art of becoming rich, though some of his critiques suspected otherwise.

Kaito would have probably dwelled on that thought a little longer, but his attention was abruptly roused when he saw something very familiar that absolutely shouldn't be here.

 _"What is SHE doing her?!"_ Kaito nearly ejaculated aloud, stopping himself just in time to stare after the woman that was once again swallowed up by a mass of strangers. He only caught a glimpse of her head, but he was absolutely certain it was her.

Abandoning his post, Kaito quickly busied himself to get through the crowd of gawking men till he was finally able to see her clearly, by looking over the head of a female officer he bumped into.

There was no mistaking this long, silky hair with the red hue and the slender frame of her body along with the graceful movements that ensnared every single man who dared to look at her.

Kaito groaned audibly, one single thought running through his mind "Why on earth are you hear?!"

O

 _"_ _Koizumi-san?!"_ Aoko couldn't believe it, even though she saw her classmate with her own eyes.

 _"_ _What is she doing here?"_ the disguised girl asked herself, recalling clearly how reserved the other girl usually was to stranger. Especially children were something she only ever seemed annoyed off, so it made no sense why she should be here.

Suddenly, somebody roughly bumped into her back, groaning very audibly shortly after, but Aoko had no time to waste on a stranger. She was still busy closely observing Akako's every move.

The beautiful girl had just turned around in the long velvet robe, which still showed of her slender waist and well-rounded butt. Additionally, she wore a purple, short coat, which ended just above her belly, held together at the front by a broach with a big red ruby, while her hands were hidden in two black, elbow-long gloves. To say she looked absolutely dashing was an understatement.

With her natural elegance, the girl slowly seated herself on a low, cushioned stool, placed behind a low table. Only now Aoko noticed the deck of tarot cards that was stacked in the middle of the small table.

"Who is the next, who wants their fortune told?" Akako's melodic voice asked and with every syllable she spoke Aoko felt how the men around her started to press forward a little stronger. The pressure grew and grew, so Aoko wanted to push against them in order to make some room for her to breathe, but she hadn't expected them to stand strong as trees. Instead of pushing them back, she pushed herself away from them, stumbling forward over her own feet and right towards Akako.

O

Normally, Kaito would have had no trouble catching the arm of the woman in front of him as she was pushed forward by the crowd and steady her so she wouldn't trip. But his arms were tightly pressed to his body by all the other men who desperately pushed forward, no doubt ensnared by Akako's charm.

So, he could only watch as the young policewoman stumbled out of the circle and nearly knocked over the small table, at which Akako was seated.

"Oh my, somebody is quite eager to catch a glimpse of their fate." the witch commented, a slight smile tugging at the edge of her lips.

"Ah, no, no, please." the young woman replied, sitting on the ground, nose only inches away from the tables edge, "there really is no need for that." For some reason, something in her voice struck Kaito as very familiar and immediately a suspicion crept up in his mind.

 _"_ _Has Aoko made another mask and snuck on the heist again?"_ Kaito immediately thought as he began to scan the girl from head to toes. "Their size and body shape seem to match" he observed, desperately craning his neck to get a good look of her face. But no matter how hard he tried, he was barely able to move in the crowd and quickly gave this endeavour up, focusing his attention back on the conversation.

Akako had just once again insisted on reading the girls fortune and this time the young woman reluctantly accepted. So Akako spread out the Tarot cards in front of her on the table and asked the woman for her hand. Said hand she gingerly grasped at the wrist and let it float above the cards.

Once, Twice, Thrice, till she finally let go.

"Are you ready to hear your future? To see that, which nobody can yet see?" Akako asked, her voice low yet clearly audible. Hearing these lines, a sudden thought occurred to Kaito. Wouldn't Akako know if the girl in front of her is Aoko or not?

After all, a witch should be able to see right through a disguise, at least that's what Akako always managed when Kaito disguised himself. As far as Kaito knew, the witch was rather fond of her best friend, as Aoko always insisted she was to Akako, and she also knew how dangerous the heists tended to be, so wouldn't she try to dissuade Aoko from attending?

On the other hand, Kaito didn't particularly trust his abilities to accurately deduce the witch's trains of thought, so he couldn't be sure whether he should take the lack of reaction from Akako as a sign for anything.

Said witch has just turned over the last of her tarot cards and continued to star at them for a moment. After seemingly having deciphered the future that was laid out in front of her, she fixed her gaze on Aoko and revealed her prediction.

 **You will have a difficult choice to make and depending on it, your life will be either joyous or dangerous.**

 **Loved ones will show you their ugly side and you will uncover the friendly face of your enemies.**

 **But doubt not your path, for while it leads into despair and pain, it will also bring victory and love.**

O

Aoko was stunned. She had of course heard of Akako's hobby and wasn't entirely distrusting of occult stuff. But such a precise prediction wasn't what she had imagined, and it frankly gave her the creeps. Not only because of its direct implication but also because of how fairy tale like it seemed.

Promising pain and hardship, predicting treason and danger, but then ending with victory and love? Sounded too cringy for Aoko's tastes, but she couldn't entirely dismiss it either. Still conflicted by the prophecy, Aoko was suddenly interrupted when Akako lay a hand on shoulder.

"I know, such a prediction can sound quite frightening and you should take it quite seriously, but don't go off thinking your fate is already decided." Her classmate explained, "Neither god nor devil could truly say what is going to happen, so heed my words, but don't follow them."

Akako gave what Aoko could only describe as an encouraging smile, though she never thought her to be the caring type of girl, before she pulled her hands back and began to gather her cards.

"The predictions are over for today. You may leave now." with these words she seemed to dismiss the crowd and, as though they were ensnared in some sort of spell, the crowd immediately dispersed. Some of the man shuffled back towards the exit, other men got back to the exhibition's object and even a waiter seemed to hurry back to his post, apparently having forgotten the time over Akako's performance.

"Shouldn't you too be getting back to your post" the smooth voice of her classmate suddenly asked and Aoko whirled around, seeing that Akako had obviously followed her gaze. For a moment, she didn't know what to make of her words, till she remembered that she was still in disguise.

Bolting upright in seconds, Aoko barely spluttered an incoherent mess of thanks and goodbye, before she rushed off towards the exhibition case, leaving Akako alone to pack up her probs.

O

It had been a rather close call for Kaito, for he nearly made the mistake of not moving away with the rest of the crowd when Akako dismissed them. After all, not many people were completely immune against her charm and while to others it might not seem important, Kaito was sure that every little suspicion he gave to Akako would inevitably lead her to discover his real identity.

And while she might not bear any ill thoughts, at least not anymore, Kaito simply hated the feeling of knowing his disguise had been compromised. And in doing that, Akako beat everybody else, even Conan and Aoko by miles, doubtlessly due to her witchcraft.

If it at least had been done with brains and observation, Kaito would feel as if he had lost an honest battle, but when the witch just simply recognizes him by his aura or something similar, he felt as though she cheated. The only thing that left him even worse off is, when she sneaks up on him and suddenly reads his mind.

"Ah, it's not my fault that your thoughts are entirely unprotected." a melodic voice suddenly spoke behind him and Kaito nearly jumped on the next table. Only by summoning all of his acting skills, he managed to reduce his reaction to a mere stiff posture, as he slowly turned on the spot.

Of course, it was Akako who stood right behind him, her short cape and the broach, along with all her fortune telling props, having vanished in a, most probably, very magical way. For a moment, Kaito entertained the thought of trying to deceive her by pretending to be a real waiter, but as he noticed how Akako's gaze turned slightly annoyed as the mere thought flirted through his mind, he decided that it was best to get their unavoidable discussion over with as fast as possible.

"Normal people do not 'protect' their thoughts, as you and other mages do. It's hardly fair that you still read my mind, when there is nothing I could possibly do." Kaito retorted, keeping his voice in pleasant and purely business tones as to stay as much in his role as possible, should anybody listen in on them.

"Oh, but there are lots of things you could do, Kuroba-kun" Akako answered in a playful voice, "Stop thinking, for example, or run away as fast as possible, when you suspect me being around."

"If I did that, I might as well wear a sign saying 'I am suspicious! Please notice me!'" Kaito replied, quickly continuing to talk as to not let Akako make her charming comments, "Talking about suspicious, what are you doing here? If I recall correctly, the last time you visited a Kid heist was months ago. Have you too fallen victim to the thief's charms?"

Akako barely paid attention to the thief's comment "You overestimate your own importance, if you think I only attend such gatherings to stalk you, my dear Kuroba-kun" she answered, completely ignoring his uttered retorts of 'I'm not Kid' "As matters stand right now, I'm here purely on business and not at all interested in you or your precious little gem."

"Oh, and on what business might that be?" Kaito questioned, having grown curious of Akako's so called business. "Are you here to gather herbs?"

The witch only shot a mocking smile back, before she answered in an amused manner "You have absolutely no idea about the world your living in."

Kaito was about to retort something but in this very moment and older gentlemen walked up to them and greeted Akako so effusively as if she were the empress of Japan. In no time he talked about how much they were indebted to the young mistress and soon lead her away to god knows where.

But Akako stopped only steps away from Kaito and turned around, "One last piece of advice, my dear Magician. It seems you've gained a new critic and I sense that they will give you the biggest headache as of yet.

To say Kaito was a bit dumbfound at that, would have been an understatement.

O

Aoko in turn, knew nothing of the curious exchange. She had been busy getting as far away from Akako as possible, not because she despised her classmate, but because she didn't possess the confidence in her acting abilities to face her or anybody else she knew just yet.

Instead, Aoko busied herself by carefully examining the pedestal and glass case, which housed the jewel this time. It was the usual reinforced glass, along with what appeared to be a fine net of wire embedded into it, but aside from that, Aoko couldn't detect any other security measurements.

She was sure that there had to be more than just the special glass case, since Kid had proven time and time again that it was not that easy to stop him, but for the time, her attention was snatched away by the beautiful diamond, she came to protect.

It was a pink diamond. Placed on a rotating lamp which emitted a soft, pink light, the fairy, which was carved into the inside of the diamond, truly seemed as if she were dancing ballet. Aoko had seen many jewels during the many heists she attended, but she had to admit that this one, was one of the best presented ones she had ever saw.

But marvelling over the superb craftsmanship that was necessary to sculpt the little figure of the fairy would bring her no closer to identifying Kid's plans and so she pulled herself away from the pedestal and went to take a closer look at the rest of the building. After all, Kid could hardly steal the jewel if he hadn't concocted any plan to escape and for every plan, you needed proper preparations.

Ascending the stairs, which lead up to the second level of the building, Aoko wanted to get a good look over the whole exhibition hall at first. She discovered some interesting facts from that, namely that Akako apparently had left the room at some point and that most of the people orbited around the area, where the banquet was laid out on two long tables.

That was hardly surprising, considering the high quality of the food, but Aoko was far too nervous to indulge in the pleasure of eating a hearty meal. Instead, she directed her gaze over towards the small and inconspicuous door, which lead to the security room, as she knew from the blueprints. The police deliberately chose to hide it in an, in Aoko's eyes utterly vain, attempt to confuse Kid. But Aoko very much doubted that Kid would wander into the room labelled as 'security control', only to end up in the broom closet.

But aside from this admittedly very childish plan, the police did a good job at securing the main hall. The front door would automatically lock when the alarm was triggered and the windows where bared with an iron grid. The only viable option to flee would be the stairs to the upper level, since the building had no cellar.

Climbing up the rest of the stairs, Aoko was soon faced with a what appeared to be a huge storage room. There were chairs and folded tables stacked up, along with elements to assemble a stage, if the need should arrive. Aoko even discovered a huge cargo elevator, with which you could transport huge masses of chairs and other pieces of furniture down into the great hall.

However, as practical as this feature undoubtably was for the organizers, as convenient was it for the thief. If he was able to lower it just enough so he could slip through the gap, it would make for a superb entrance, but also for a swift escape, should he place his 'old yet trusty winch', as he called it, on the platform.

After all, Kid had done more impressing feats than grabbing a rope that hang a few feet above the ground and let himself get dragged up afterwards. But Aoko wasn't about to rule the possibility out entirely, far from it.

She was convinced Kid would use the elevator for his trick, simply because it made for such a useful tool. If he really chose to escape with it, Aoko couldn't say, but she was sure he would use it, even if only to create a diversion.

So, if Kid's plan hinged upon his usage of the winch, then Aoko had no reason at all to go back down. In fact, it would only put her at a disadvantage, since she could hardly catch him if other police officers always got in her way, nor would it be beneficial for her to stand in the crowd, if she wanted to keep track of things.

 _"_ _I could exploit this even more"_ a thought shot suddenly through her mind, _"if Kid is dependent on this elevator lowering, wouldn't it be even more beneficial for me to not let it move at all?_ "

Of course, this would only work, if Kid didn't intend to use the elevator for his Grand Entrance, since he could hardly enter if the drop hole stayed barred, so to speak. But if he relied on the platform to lower itself for his escape. Then he would be in huge trouble.

 _"_ _However… what if…"_ Aoko mused, a devious plan forming in her mind. It was a rather risky scheme, but it would catch the thief doubtlessly by surprise and Aoko was confident, that she could make use of this little advantage to overpower the thief.

O

The evening had already started bad, so it could only get worse. At least that was the conclusion Kaito was about to draw, when yet another very impolite head waiter hounded him for his inattentiveness, only because Kaito had not rested on a spot for more than a couple seconds.

Of course, he had done his best to not attract any unwanted attention, but it wasn't that easy to properly scout out a place, if you could only catch a passing glance of things. The pedestal, for example, had a net of thin wires imbedded into the glass, yet he didn't have the time to confirm whether the net was additionally attached on the pedestal or not.

Minor details such as this, trivial to others, bore a heavy importance on the timing of Kaito's plan. He couldn't afford to linger for a second to long or to start a moment to early, or the whole plan would go to ruins. Additionally, Kaito still kept his eyes open for the young woman, he thought was Aoko, but sadly he hadn't been able to spot her.

About to move on to his next objective, Kaito still pondered over the question whether that policewoman really could have been Aoko. Her size and posture were nearly identical, as well as was the tone of voice. However, Akako didn't even bat an eye when the two faced and while Kaito knew the witch could be an ardent actor if she chose to be, it still bothered him that he didn't notice even the slightest sign of recognition.

Additionally, wouldn't Aoko be more careful when choosing a disguise? Last time, she paraded as a guy, who was in build and voice fairly different from Aoko, so she undoubtably was able to completely hide her physical traits.

Not to mention that there still was the issue of the lost jewel from last heists. Was it really Aoko who stole it? But if she did, would the police not make sure that she didn't have it with her, before they would allow her to leave? And would Aoko even be powerful enough to attack him this ferociously?

But if it wasn't Aoko, then who was it? The men in Black? Unlikely, since then they would have pulled out faster. The police? But then why wasn't it mentioned in the newspaper? It would after all earn them a great deal of trust, if they managed to stop Kid without the help of Hakuba or other detectives.

So, was it a third party? But who and more importantly why?

Pondering over those questions, Kaito had made his to the stairs and was about to climb the last flight, when his gaze wandered over the people scattered in the great hall. From up here, shortly before he reached the second floor, he had a good view of the whole room and could make out many details, like the fake 'security control' and the real security room.

 _"Did those idiots from the police really think of this stupid idea or did somebody else cook this bullshit up?"_ he wondered, composing a list in his brain of people who might think of something like this. It wasn't a huge portion of the people, but amongst them, he singled out inspector Nakamori for some reason.

He couldn't really explain why, but this seemed just like one of those spontaneous ideas the inspector sometimes had. Most of which were misses, but some were actually quite good. But thinking of inspector Nakamori once again brought Kaito's mind back to the inspector's daughter: Aoko.

 _"There has to be some way for me to check if Aoko is here!"_ Kaito groaned inwardly, running his hand through the blonde hair of the wig. _"I mean, I can't just call her, she could simply lie to me and I would have no idea, if she was simply standing down there answering her mobile phone"_

Resting his head on the railing, heaving a heavy sigh, Kaito suddenly froze. He was a fool. He realized how big of a fool he actually was, since he could very well check, whether Aoko was in this room.

Pulling out his smartphone with quick fingers, Kaito dialled her number and put the device to his ear, keeping a keen eye on the crowd below.

One ring, yet nobody in the crowd moved.

Two rings, but no matter how much he strained his ears, he couldn't detect any ring tone.

Three rings and Kaito even managed to spot all the policewomen in the room, but none of them stirred.

"Hello?" the ringing suddenly stopped and Aoko's overly familiar voice asked in rather suspicious tones, "Kaito? Why are you calling me? Don't you usually open your window and simply cry for me to answer?"

Disappointment, big disappointment came over Kaito, but none of it managed to sneak into his answer "Idiot, have you looked at the clock? I'm not about to wake up the whole neighbourhood. Besides, I'm not even home right now."

"Ah, so that's why you didn't bother me, when I'm watching television?" came the snarky reply and now that she mentioned it, Kaito thought he could hear the TV in the background.

"What are you watching?", he inquired, unable to guess from the little he could make out. But it seemed to be some life event, at least he could hear a mutter of people talking.

Kaito had his sneaking suspicions what this loud chatter could be, but Aoko didn't even beat around the bushes "I'm watching the Kid heist."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure." Kaito drawled, the sarcasm heavily dripping from his words.

"You don't believe me? Here, hear for yourself!" Aoko retorted, and after some fabric rustling and some short steps, Kaito could hear the announcers voice loud and clear. "What has Inspector Nakamori, head of the Kid task force, to say?"

"This time, we have made sure to use every resource available to achieve the maximum security that is possible. Kid will stay no chance:" the proud voice of inspector Nakamori came over the speakers, and sure enough, when Kaito looked down, he could see the TV crew interviewing the inspector.

Another rustling and padding noise later, Aoko spoke once more, "Dad should really stop talking like this. It sounds as though they haven't tried for real all this time."

"Aha, you know how your father is, big words, but not all that smart." Kaito a answered with a short fake laugh, before he continued "Ah, but I have to go now, it seems my company is demanded"

"Who in their right mind would demand your company" he could quickly catch Aoko's remark, before he cut her off. But instead of getting back to his task, he simply stood there.

Stood and stared at his phone.

Thinking of where he wanted to be right now.

But for sentiments like this was no time on a heist, so he shoved those thoughts, just like his phone, away and hide them deep in one of his many pockets. Lingering on his spot for a second longer, Kaito regained the composure which would identify a waiter as such and finished the last flight of steps up to the second floor.

The room was barely lit and dusty, as he had left it before. He had been here earlier to familiarize himself with the vicinity and to prepare his tricks. Unwilling to sacrifice the necessary time for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, Kaito pulled out a small flashlight and ventured into the dark. Moving swiftly between the big stacks of furniture and other stuff, Kaito instantly found his way to the control panel of the huge elevator, which he had hidden by draping a piece of dark cloth over it, and once again checked his settings.

He doubted anybody would dare to fiddle around with them, but it was best to doublecheck, if only for the peace of mind. After all, his heist was due in a couple of minutes and he couldn't afford any hiccups in his operation.

After finishing his round with once again hanging the piece of cloth back over the panel, in order to hide the blinking and shining lights, Kaito hurried back to the stairs, worried that he might be too late. Exiting the dark room, he quickly hid the small flashlight and descended the stairs in an upright and proud manner, putting any butler to shame for walking to slobby.

But in his haste, Kaito overlooked his biggest mistake.

O

Aoko had been prepared for Kaito calling her, that was, after all, why she specifically downloaded this app, that lets you talk with somebody and use the phone normally at the same time. She had also been prepared for Kid or somebody else arriving to double check the room, but when these two events nearly occurred at the same time, she barely managed to not stumbled over her own feet as she rushed to hide.

Luckily, the waiter, quite possibly Kid, who came up chose to use a flashlight, thanks to which he ruined his night vision and was unable to spot Aoko, covering beneath one of the stacks of tables.

At first, she hadn't thought much of him, but when he unveiled the control panel of the elevator, which was hidden under a black piece of cloth, she knew something was up. She had searched for the bloody thing for the better part of the last half an hour and had been almost convinced that it purely operated via remote control.

But now discovering that somebody had purposefully hidden it, assured her in her guess that this waiter must be Kid.

After he was done checking whatever it was, he had wanted to check, he left the room again and Aoko slowly and silently, crept after him. For a moment she was blinded by the bright lights outside, but she could see well enough to make sure that Kid was going back down, thus not requiring the elevator for his entrance.

Hurrying back to the control panel, having memorised exactly where it was, Aoko tore the piece of cloth from it and began to quickly scan all the switches and buttons. But she didn't even know what Kid needed the elevator for, so she was reluctant to simply change something, fearing it wouldn't really stop the thief's plan.

 _"_ _It would be best to simply tear out the whole thing."_ she guessed to herself, but instead chose not to. If it caused a black out, not only would it alert the thief to her presences, but also causing a mass panic, possibly injuring dozens of people. No, she had no other choice than to leave it operational.

Quickly hurrying back to the flight of stairs, Aoko cast a quick glance at her phone, checking the time and seeing that only two minutes remained. Skittering to a halt in a crouched position at the top of the stairs, Aoko shielded her eyes from the bright lights above and peered over the solid concrete railing down into the hall.

The 'evacuation' had already begun, which simply meant that the guests were gathered at the entrance of the hall, leaving the exhibition case standing solemnly in the other half of the hall, only surrounded by half a dozen task force officers. The rest of the police force were placed below the windows and in front of the crowd, ready to spring at anybody who dared to enter the newly created death zone.

There was one-minute left till Kid's Grand Entrance and the heist was about to begin.

O

With growing anticipation inspector Nakamori stared at the gem's pedestal. They had barricaded the whole room, sealed every door, closed up every window. They knew Kid was trapped.

He had, purposefully, decided against checking everybody's face for a mask, when they let people enter the building. For one, it didn't sit well with most citizens if the police randomly start to pinche your cheek and for two, his goal was not to protect the jewel but to capture Kid.

All the years he chased after the thief. It had always been his goal to capture the elusive magician. To drag him in front of a court and see him locked away, behind thick iron bars. And the incident that occurred last heist, only strengthened this desire.

Ginzo Nakamori was no fool. He knew, Kid was not responsible for the deaths of the officers, even though he pointed Nakamori in the right direction. No, he was the one who made the decision, who trusted the thief and sent his man up to the roof.

And exactly that was the reason why Nakamori was now even more focused on capturing the thief. He had made a mistake. Had misjudged the situation. But that situation could occur over and over again.

Kid was a threat. Not because he bore ill will or spread harm, but because he existed. His presence alone was enough to lure the hunters out of the dark and those hunters didn't care for collateral damage. They were prepared to kill. And the only way to stop them, was to take away their price.

And this price was currently locked in a large box. Trapped amidst dozens of police officers, all eager to catch him. There would be no error this time, of that much Nakamori was convinced.

"Be on your guard!" he shouted, his voice unusually loud as ever, but calm and collected, "the thief will appear every second now."

And true to his credo, as soon as the clock chimed 8 o'clock, the room erupted in smoke. It came from underneath the tables and out of pot plants. Kid hadn't just sat around twiddling his thumps all evening but used his disguise to spread his smoke bombs through the whole room.

Of course, Nakamori immediately ordered for the fans to be turned on and clear the smoke out. But the windows were blocked, the doors bolted and the air vents not working. Instead of dispersing, the smoke was merely blown through the room.

"Curses! Why hasn't anybody thought of that?" Nakamori roared, not expecting and explanation since he knew fully well, whose idea it originally was.

Suddenly, the radio in his hand crackled to life and a voice spoke up "Angle the fan's slightly downwards! It will blow the smoke up to the roof!"

Nakamori didn't know whose voice it was, but since the call came over the police frequency and the idea was good, he pushed all arising questions aside for a later moment.

"Point the fans towards the ground!" he commanded, the fans crews following his instructions and soon enough, the smoke gradually cleared on the ground and gathered instead as a big, black cloud high up in the ceiling.

"Careful! Kid might still use the smoke as cover! Don't let your guard down!" he shouted again, reminding his men to be careful and calling them to order.

For a long minute nothing happened, and the smoke had started to clear out through cracks and slits, gradually dispersing.

Suddenly and without any warning, a shadow fell down from the roof. Landing directly on the glass case, spreading out a big black cloth over it.

"It's Kid! Team 1 get him! Don't let him crack the case!" Nakamori ordered, seeing the men of team 1 immediately spring into action, rushing at the thief kneeling on top the pedestal.

"Careful!" the voice over the radio suddenly ejaculated, "he will escape up the stairs!" Nakamori could only stare at the little device in incredulous surprise. Kid was currently yards away from the foot of the stairs and there were more than a dozen officers who would reach there first.

Ignoring the voice, he watched as team 1 was about to reach Kid, the first about to grab the magician's cape while others readied themselves to climb up to the thief.

But before they managed to get a hold of him, the thief sprang up from his crouch, hovering in mid-air for the fraction of a second before he propelled through the air, directly towards the stairs.

"Team 2, your turn!" Nakamori roared, the moment the thief shot towards the stairs. The officers belong to Team 2 immediately gave chase, reaching the stairs only seconds after the thief, sprinting after the white cape as fast as they could.

"They're too slow!" Nakamori cursed, realizing that the officers, despite their best efforts, weren't able to catch up to the thief. But in that moment, another officer emerged at the top of the stairs and rushed down.

From this distance, it was hard to tell, but Nakamori thought it was one of the rookies that were on their first mission today. He had no idea why they were at the top of the stairs, he certainly hasn't ordered them to be there, since he thought team 2 would surely reach the stairs faster than Kid.

But since that was not the case, their position now proved very valuable, since they cut off the thief's escape. Soon, the thief and the lone officer came to an abrupt halt, only a few steps parting them.

"Why doesn't he charge at him?" Nakamori asked confused and was about to scream at them to get Kid, when he realized what they were doing. Through standing still, they kept the thief at bay, being able to quickly answer to every movement he made. They didn't intend to catch the thief but to buy time for the other officers to reach the trickster.

And soon enough, the first officers appeared behind Kid, rushing and not slowing down. Ginzo Nakamori was exhilarated "They got him! They got him!"

O

Aoko Nakamori was appalled "Those idiots! They'll let him get away!"

She put her hands up, signalling the charging officers to slow down, to stop.

They didn't listen.

She screamed, at them and in her radio, "STOP! Slow down or he will escape!"

They didn't listen.

Not one of them slowed down. Thought through what was about to happen.

Soon enough, the first officer reach Kid, was about to grab him around the waist from behind at full speed. That's when the thief twirled to the side and pushed him forward even more, bringing him out of balance.

Carried forward by the momentum of the reckless charged and brought out of balance by the thief, the officer was unable to stop or turn. He stumbled up the stairs, right at Aoko.

The disguised girl tried to step out of the way with a quick step. She managed, though barely, lacking good footing on the steep stairs. And thus, she was unable to dodge the second officer, who had followed short after the first and was equally played by Kid.

Shielding her body with her arms and immediately crouching down, Aoko managed to avoid the worst damage to herself, only butting her back at the stairs. But the damage was done. The officers who had charged at Kid, now lay flat on the stairs, burying Aoko underneath them.

"Get off me! He will escape!" Aoko screamed, trying to kick the officer on her away. But before she managed to tear herself free, something bounced on the officers back, squashing Aoko even more. She could barely make out the white cape, who fluttered away over her.

But it was not over yet!

Struggling to heave the heavy man, who had hit his head at the stairs and was out called, having escaped a serious head injury only thanks to his helmet, off of her, Aoko soon gave chase.

Her back ached from when it hardly collided with the stairs, her left eye teared from when the officer had smashed into her, but she pressed on.

 _"If we lose sight of Kid now, he could simply slip on a disguise and vanished in the crowd of onlookers! Then it will be hours till we have checked all of them, giving Kid enough time to escape!"_ her mind provided, and she forced her legs to run even faster.

But, unknown to Kid, she had still one ace up her sleeves.

O

Kaito was exhilarated! He hadn't expected Nakamori to place a lone officer to guard the top of the stairs and when they blocked his path, he really thought himself screwed for a second. But thanks to the idiocy of the officers behind him, he managed to play them off against each other.

If they had stopped and advanced slowly and coordinated, he would at least have needed to burn a flash or smoke bomb. Now they lay on the stairs, entangled in a heap of legs and arms.

Just picturing Nakamori's face made him giggle slightly. But this giggle was the reason why he didn't concentrate on the stairs. Why he didn't see the trap.

Suddenly, his legs were yanked out underneath him and he fell flat on his face, painfully colliding with the concrete floor. His vision was hazy and blurred from the fall, as he looked down his legs, and saw the thin glimmer of a thread.

Somebody had stretched it between the most upper pillars of the flight of stairs, and he fool had tripped right over it. With a groan, he tried to stand up, only to get knocked down a second later by a task force member, who had plunged on his back.

"I will not let you get away!" a hoarse and out of breath voice screamed, pinning him to the ground.

But Kaito was not about to let himself get captured. He shoved one leg of the officer as far away as he could, why he pushed himself of the ground with his other hand. The effect was that the officer promptly fell off him to the side and Kid quickly got to his feet, no moment to late.

Other officers had managed to reach the struggling pair and they now forced Kid to back away onto the wide balcony, effectively blocking the last flight of stairs up to the attic.

"Surrender Kid! From here it only goes down." one officer urged him, while the wall of men slowly drew closer and closer. Kaito knew there was no way to squeeze himself through between them, no matter how many smoke bombs and flash bangs he used.

But there was still one way left to him. Relaxing his posture, Kid stood straight, facing the men with his usual mock grin.

"I must admit, these were most adamant efforts you took upon yourself today." he spoke in calm tones, though his heartbeat like a jack hammer and his lungs craved for oxygen "but this game will end now."

A maniac grin spread over his face and one officer barely managed to shout, 'He'll jump' before Kid vaulted over the railing, while the room erupted in bright flashes.

O

"Damnit", Nakamori cursed blinking the tears out of his eyes caused by the countless flash bangs, "is this maniac trying to make us all go blind?"

Taking out the radio, he demanded to hear the status and grew increasingly frustrated as every team reported that Kid had vanished.

"To the devil with this prowling prankster!" he hollered about to throw the radio against the nearest wall, but controlling himself in the last moment, "How can he suddenly appear and disappear."

"Sir?" the voice of team 2's leader rang out from the radio "Here is an officer claiming she knows how Kid managed to appear."

"Oh really?" Nakamori asked, already growing annoyed. Why did every bloody officer think he had a clue of what was going on?

A short crackling later, a heavy, breathing voice came over the radio "He was *gasp* disguised as one of the staff, *pant* probably a waiter and placed the *pant* smoke bombs under the *gasp* tables."

A strong coughing interrupted the speech, before the voice once again spoke up, "then he used the smoke *gasp* to cover how he pulled himself up, *pant* using a rope. All that *wheeze* was left was to plunge down *gasp* on the glass case."

"That's mighty possible, but what does it help us?" Nakamori asked, not bothering to hide his foul mood, "He still managed to escape with the stone, didn't he?"

The answer came once again in rasping sounds over the radio "Has anybody *gasp* seen him with the jewel? Doesn't he *pant* normally *pant* show his loot around, before *wheeze* he vanishes?"

This struck Nakamori like lightning. He rushed instantly to the exhibition case and pulled the black cloth down.

A sound of surprise and confusion erupted from the crowd, mimicking Nakamori's thoughts as he stared at the intact glass case, jewel still safe inside it.

"But… why? What… "he stammered unable to comprehend the situation, "Did Kid just flee without taking the jewel?!"

Silence erupted for a long second, before some officers started to cheer, shortly followed by their comrades and the present crowd. The task force members congratulated each other, while the onlookers stared to applaud vigorously.

Amidst the cheerful gathering of policemen, Nakamori stood with a dumbfound expression on his face, staring at the black cloth in his hands.

"Wait! Wait a moment!" a voice suddenly called out and a portly man with bald head and glasses hurried towards the inspector "Maybe that's a fake! Maybe Kid switched the jewel out for a fake! Let me see."

The man, who Nakamori now recognized as the curator, who was specifically hired to attest to the stone's validity, pulled out a key from his breast pocket and inserted it into the keyhole. He motioned for two officers to take the glass case off, nervously twitching his hands.

"Hurry up, hurry up every second is vital if we must chase after Kid!" he reminded them, quickly yet gently grasping the stone once he could. He took out a small pocket lens and peered intently through it at the stone.

Turning it around, over and over, his manner grew even more nervous, before his shrieked in a loud and panicked voice "IT'S A FAKE! IT'S A FAKE! KID HAS STOLEN THE JEWEL!"

What followed was a moment of dumb silence before all hell broke loose. Officers rushed off, dictating orders in their radio, to check for breaks in security. Journalist turned to their camera's uttering the newest headline of the day, while the guest started to chatter in hushed voice about the heist.

Everything was chaos.

But suddenly, over the noise from the TV crews, the muttering of the crowds and the trampling of the policemen's boots, one voice boomed louder and clear:

 **"KID IS THE CURATOR! HE NEVER STOLE THE STONE, BUT ONLY PRETENDED SO HE COULD NOW COME AND CLAIM IT WAS A FAKE! THEN HE WOULD USE THE CHAOS AND CONFUSION TO ESCAPE THE BUILDING WITH THE REAL JEWEL!"**

* * *

All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.

Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part.

Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.

Farewell


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 **"KID IS THE CURATOR! HE NEVER STOLE THE STONE, BUT ONLY PRETENDED SO HE COULD NOW COME AND CLAIM IT WAS A FAKE! THEN HE WOULD USE THE CHAOS AND CONFUSION TO ESCAPE THE BUILDING WITH THE REAL JEWEL!"**

The shout cut through the noise of chatter and mumbles like a hot blade through butter. All eyes turned up towards the roof, where a young officer was leaning dangerously over the railing, shouting her lungs out.

For a moment, there was absolute stillness in the huge hall, before all eyes turned to the spot, where the curator was standing just now. The portly man still stood unmoving, staring back at the crowd with surprised eyes. But the jewel in his hand has vanished.

 **"GET HIM!"**

The young officer shouted and with her cry, everything was set in motion. Officers from all sides started to rush at the curator, while the mass of onlookers moved backwards, distancing themselves from him.

But the man in question hasn't remained still either. A broad smiled now adorned his face and with a quick and swift motion most unfitting to his stature, he threw down a small white ball. The space around him immediately vanished in thick white smoke, while simultaneously the cackling laughter of the notorious thief erupted.

Chaos filled the room. TV crews desperately trying to get a clear shot through the mist. Onlookers shrinking back from the smoke, not wanting to touch it out of fear it could be more than just smoke. Task force members were stumbling around in the fog, grabbing for anything they could make out and ended up in a huge bundle on the floor. Even the officers who had been left at the top of the stairs were on their way down, taking two or three steps at a time.

But all their efforts were in vain for suddenly a loud rumbling echoed through the room. The huge platform of the cargo elevator was descending with a loud buzzing sound. It had only opened for what appeared to be around two meters (6 feet), before it stopped moving. While the mass of onlookers and police officers still googled stupidly at the huge machine, something shot out of the smoke, flying directly towards the elevator.

It was some sort of grappling hook, which flew over the platform but stopped falling only after few inches. The rope attached to its end was pulled back in and with a metallic rattle, the claws of the hook got caught on the edge of the elevator platform. Only moments after, a white shape was pulled out from the smoke and it took no genius to figure out this was Kid.

With an elegant flourish of his cape, the magician landed on top of the elevator, bowing low to his audience.

"I must admit my dear inspector, today has been quite an amusing heist. Your improvements when it comes to placing traps or letting your officers ambush me at crucial positions might still need some effort, but today, you demonstrated promising early steps. I can see you managing to catch a common pick pocket with this strategy but to a magician, like me, your little tricks are merely a diversion." the thief spoke his mocking smile turned directly at inspector Nakamori, who was fuming.

"Cut out your mockery and come down here to face me!" he roared in anger "I need no "traps" or any other of your dirty tricks to get you! YOU HEAR ME!"

O

 _"There he goes again with his babbling."_ Kaito thought to himself as he watched the grown man jump up and down, while wildly flailing his hands around in the air.

The admittedly very creative threats however, didn't impress Kaito in the slightest. Yet there still was something in Nakamori's answer that confused him. Why did he deny the traps that his officers obviously set up? After all, threads didn't span themselves nor had Kaito placed any atop of the stairs.

" _Did one of the officers set those up on their own? No, if they did, they would at least inform Nakamori of it and there's no way the old man could not brag about it, when he knew I stumbled over them."_ Kaito theorized, finding the "diversion" as he called it earlier to suddenly be a major mystery. The elevator was by now on its way up, but thanks to its low speed the gap had only closed a little.

 _"There's something I'm missing!"_ Kaito realized, immediately casting his mind back to the beginning of the heist. The moment when he spotted Akako and how she read out fortunes. The small talk he had with her and her warning.

 **It seems you've gained a new critic and I sense that they will give you the biggest headache as of yet.**

Only too late did the pieces connect. The traps, the lone officer atop the stairs and how they didn't charge at Kid but keep him at bay for the others to catch up. The orders over the police radio and how somebody saw through his disguise as curator. All of these majorly disturbed Kaito's plan.

And following back those clues, like one of his beloved critics would, lead him to one realization. They all were designed to keep him away from the cargo room over the big hall.

The same cargo hall he was about to enter on an elevator.

Suddenly there was a noise, like somebody striking bare metal, behind him.

He reacted swiftly.

Intended to move away from his position at the edge of the platform.

But he was too slow.

He felt a pair of hands shoving him forward, pushing his body over the edge.

Barely did he manage to save his head from colliding with the edge of the hole in the ceiling, made for the elevator to fit.

He tried to steady his fall, but his feet tripped into thin air, while his hands grasped for nothing.

Desperately, he turned in his fall, tried to grab for the ledge.

His fingers caught a hold and he barely managed to stop his fall.

Hanging there, dangling from one arm, Kaito looked back up, coming face to face with himself.

In confusion, he stared up at his reflection in the visor of a task force helmet, before he felt nimble fingers grabbing for his hand.

For a moment, he thought they would pull him back up. But in the next moment, he had lost his grip and was falling.

Falling down. Still looking back up at the mysterious infiltrator.

Suddenly, memories started to flit past his eyes. Memories of his past.

Images of his father on the stage, pulling a bunny out of a hat.

He saw pictures of his mother, gently cupping his cheek and pressing a light kiss on his forehead, before she sent him off to school.

And he saw Aoko.

Saw her smiling face, her brilliant, blue eye gleaming in the light of the sun and her dark locks fluttering in the wind.

For a moment he was a peace.

But only for a moment.

 _"Cut the bullshit! Why only dream of her, when you could go and see her? Move, stupid body"_

O

Gasping in disbelief, the crowd watched as Kid came plunging down from the ceiling. Since the elevator was about to close, nobody could make out what happened, but all of them saw how Kid fell.

Closer and closer he came to the floor.

Officers were already rushing forward, while many people averted their eyes, not wanting to see the thief collide with the floor. But just before Kid was about to crash on the white marble ground, he moved and twisted. No second to late, his grappling hook shot through the air and grabbed on to one of the iron grids blocking the window.

The rope tightened as Kid was about to hit the floor. The fall was already altered by the new force from his pull. He swung like a pendulum and curled up on himself. The white cape whisked over the floor as his feet only passed over it by a mere foot.

But it was too early to catch his breath. All the force from the fall now steered the magician right at a pillar supporting the roof. But Kid was not ready to let himself get squashed like a bug.

With practiced motions, he let his grappling hook go while bracing himself for the landing. He managed to land safely on his feet, but the momentum carried him forward, his white shoes slithering over the polished ground.

Flailing his arms and leaning hard backwards, Kid fought with all he had to keep on standing. Thanks to his keen sense of balance, he glided over the floor like an ice skater. But the next obstacle was already on its way in shape of a huge table.

In one smooth motion, the magician jumped up, landing with his back on the table, while using his feet to stop at the wall. The table creaked and bend dangerously from the impact, but it held, leaving a heavily panting Kid sprawled atop of it.

The rest of the room was silent. All staring at the magician who had just survived a fall from such heights without any apparent injury. Suddenly, somebody began to clap and soon the whole room had joined in the applause.

Even the officers were cheering for the thief, who raised himself wobbly on his legs. Slowly turning around, he awkwardly starred at the applauding crowd for a moment, before he bowed to them. The cheering only grew louder at that, but the moment didn't last for long.

"Hold it! Hold it!" Inspector Nakamori interjected, silencing the onlookers with his loud voice, "I admit this maneuver was pretty impressive, but don't think that we'll let you get away just because of that!"

He signaled something with his hands and immediately the officers began to encircle Kid, slowly drawing closer like a pack of lions moving in for the final blow.

"Now, you can make matters worse if your resist, Kid or you surrender, and I guarantee you to not reveal your face right here." the inspector offered, while stepping closer little by little. He knew fully well that Kid's performance just now must have taken a toll on the thief, especially since it looked anything else but planned.

Now was the moment Kid being at his weakest and while some people may question his honour because he shamelessly took advantage of the situation, Nakamori knew he couldn't let this chance slip.

O

Kaito knew how dire his situation was. His legs still shook from the unexpected maneuver and his brain felt fuzzy and slow. He had no flash bangs or smoke bombs left and the police didn't just mindlessly charge at him.

To the people watching, he must have looked like a picture of calm and confidence, but even his infamous and well-practiced poker face was about to crack. He had no tricks up his sleeves, not intending to face the task force in such a situation.

Would this be his end?

He had imagined it differently. He always expected to go down with a grand last stand. Requiring the cooperation of all his critics to get ahead of him and lock him down. But now, none of them were even here. Just the police and a mysterious third party.

Unconsciously, his hands moved to his breast pocket, where he usually hide the gems. To his surprise, he found it was still there. Apparently, his assailant hadn't had the time to take it from him.

But this though only barely grazed Kaito's brain.

Instead he thought of Aoko. Tried to picture her hurt and betrayed face, when she found out that he had been Kid all along.

He thought of the men in black. How they would eventually get a hold of Pandora, once he was gone. Did the gem really exist or had he thrown his life away for a myth?

He didn't know.

There was only one thing he knew: his options.

Surrendering or fighting.

Kaito knew the risks.

Knew the consequences.

And there was only one choice, he could make.

O

At first, inspector Nakamori was about to pounce on the thief as his hand moved to his breast pocket. But when the thief slowly pulled his hand back and held it out towards the inspector. He knew that something was wrong.

He had fully expected Kid to fight for his life. Resist with everything he had.

 _"Is this really the same Kid?"_ he couldn't help but ask himself. _"Wait, this might be a ploy! A trick so we let out guard down!"_

Not wavering in his stance, the inspector waited for Kid to move. But the trickster in question only held out his hand, palm open with the pink gem glistening in the light.

"I surrender."

He spoke the words calmly.

As if he had decided so years ahead. As if he had always known it would end this way.

Cautiously, Nakamori moved forward, took the gem from the thief's hand and put a cuff around his wrist. Kid didn't resist.

With a steady grip, ready to slam the thief to the ground should he resist, he turned Kid around, and cuffed his hands on his back.

The magician didn't even tense.

Under the constant flashes of cameras and phones, Kid was led to the police van. The huge metal doors slammed shut, after the thief along with two guards to watch over him had entered the back of the car. Nakamori knew that this should be his place.

Now, that he finally caught the thief, he wanted to grin at him during the whole ride. Mock him and remind him who had caught him. But right now, he didn't feel like doing any of it.

It just felt wrong. He hadn't caught the thief, hadn't even really arrested him.

No. Kid had turned himself in after nearly killing himself with his stunt. This didn't feel like a victory at all.

Shaking his head to get it clear again of such thoughts, Nakamori turned around to face the reporters.

O

It felt surreal.

As the van started to move and slowly rolled out the parking lot of the building, Kaito couldn't help but feel like this way a dream.

It had been the right choice, hadn't it?

Even if he had resisted, with all his ammunition used up, all exits barred and surrounded by officers, he stood no real chance of escaping. This way, he could at least make Kid's identity remain hidden. If he talked with Inspector Nakamori, he was sure that he could make a deal to not let Aoko know.

So, he could at least spare her from the heartache this would cause.

But even though he knew he made the right choice it didn't feel like he did. Had he really fought all those battles, stole all those gems only to end up in prison?

Was this truly all he could do?

He wanted to accept his decision. Wanted to come to terms with it. But he couldn't.

His inner conflict must have shown on his face in some way as suddenly an officer started to laugh.

"Still trouble realizing that you've lost?" he snarled at the thief, not bothering to hide his joy at the thief's capture "pity Nakamori didn't rip your mask of in front of all those people. Would have made a damned good show."

He laughed, chocking halfway and coughing heavily. A chain smoker in all appearance.

But he caught himself rather quickly, now scowling up at Kid from his hunched over position "But don't you think your safe. I'm gonna rip your stupid hat of your head and take a nice picture of your face."

Kaito knew that he didn't have the best reputation among some of the task force members, but this man was even more extreme than he ever suspected. Leaking a picture of his face to the media would not only go directly against Inspector Nakamori's order, but it would also be counted as leaking classified documents, which was illegal.

No sane officer would risk his job just for a little revenge. That is if he was an officer.

 _"Chain smoker! No member of task force would be allowed to have such poor condition!"_ Kaito suddenly realized. There was only one way how this guy had gotten accepted into the task force: bribery.

"Oh, have you realized it?" the fake officer snarled, having pulled his gun. Kaito looked towards the other officer for help, but he didn't even lift a finger.

"Don't bother crying for help. Even the driver's in on the whole plot and once we're through with you, you would wish to never have been born!" the man declared, laughing hoarsely as Kaito glared back at him "Oh, don't look at me like that. We're not going to kill you; no. Death is far to kind a sentence."

He leaned back, his gun still aimed at Kid "First, we will reveal your identity to the public. Then we will kidnap the people close to you, your friends, your family. I'm sure seeing them suffer will loosen your tongue about Pandora."

He cackled again, about to open his mouth for another insult, as suddenly the car started to rattle and jump.

"Wha-" he was barely able to breath, before the van stopped abruptly, sending him flying to the front of the small room. Kaito had expected something like this as the car begun to bump, so he was prepared for the impact.

He was about to throw himself on the officer, when he heard a light 'click' behind him. Turning around, he stared down the muzzle of the other officer's gun. Apparently, he had braced himself for the crash as well.

"Ha, you sneaky little rat!" the first officer yelled again, nursing his head where it had impacted with the wall. Unlike the second officer he had taken his helmet off right after they drove off.

"Did you really think you could escape just like that?" he sat up and grinned back at Kaito with a triumphant smile "You pig. I'm gonna teach you what happens when you try to pick a fight!"

He drew back his arm, about to strike Kid, but the magician was much too quick for that. He ducked the punch missing him by a mile, but he didn't dare to take advantage of the situation, not when the officer behind him still aimed at him.

"Don't move around like that!" the first officer spat, drawing back for a second punch. But suddenly he collapsed back onto the bench, shoulders slumping. His gaze showed surprise and a little fear, before his head lulled to the side and he rolled of the bench, smacking hard on the floor, not moving again.

Unable to proceed what just happened, Kaito suddenly became aware of a strange smell in the air: sleeping gas!

He felt like his knees gave in and how his consciousness began to fade, when a person suddenly crouched in front of him. It was the second officer, face no longer hidden behind a helmet, but a gas mask instead.

"All will be well." he spoke, before Kaito drifted off to sleep.

As Kaito was finally able to open his eyes, he needed a moment to identify his surroundings. His mind was still hazy, and everything looked blurred and wobbly. But he could clearly tell that he was no longer trapped inside the police van.

Slowly but surely his eyes adjusted, and he could make out a row of garbage bins and a rusted draining pipe right beside them. He tried to sit up, but the moment he shifted his head, everything grew blurry again, colours and objects flowing into each other creating bizarre shapes.

But Kaito knew he could not stay here for any longer. If anybody saw him, they would at least call the police, if not doing something far more dangerous. After all, he had no idea what happened to the fake police officers.

Apparently, the third officer wasn't a traitor like the other two, but he quite clearly was no real police member either. At least, that was the only reasonable conclusion he could draw from the events that transpired.

Finally, able to stand on his wobbly legs again, Kid quickly changed out of his white tuxedo and into much less suspicious street clothes, before he turned to move out of the small alley. His saviour had picked a very good hiding place, when he moved Kid away from the crash site.

Just on the other side of the road, Kaito could see a bunch of police cars gathered around the smoking wreck of a van. It was hard to clearly distinguish anything in the dead of night, but he could tell that two persons were apprehended right this moment.

 _"How the hell did I get out of this one unscathed?"_ Kaito wondered while slowly turning and walking away from the crash site. When his goddess of luck had already favoured him with a free pass out of custody, he was not about to get arrested again. Besides, aside from the little business with nearly plunging to his death and getting arrested by the police, his plan for today had worked out.

He always knew that the ''Ballet de fées' wasn't Pandora. How could it possibly hide another gem when it was hollow? All that was now left to do was to wait for the news the next day and hoping that the police were better at following up evidence, than at catching him.

With this matter put aside, there was however still one riddle left to solve. Namely who was the mysterious intruder who pushed him to his death?

For a second, he thought it might have been Aoko. But he had checked on her just minutes before the heist started and there was no way you could get here from where she lived that quickly. Even if she had somehow played him for a fool, Aoko was not the type of person to push somebody to their death.

But nonetheless, it couldn't hurt to make sure.

O

Exhausted, confused and frustrated, Aoko let herself slump on her bed, before she began to peel out of her disguise.

 _"What the heck was wrong today?! First Akako suddenly appears and tells me about difficult choices I'll have to face in the future, then the task force behaves like complete amateurs but despite that Kid suddenly surrenders?!"_ she groaned inwardly.

Carelessly beginning to shrug her task force uniform off, knowing that here dad won't be home for some time, she recalled today's events again.

The moment she noticed that Kid had disguised as the curator and had shouted this down the hall, she immediately hurried to get to the storage room. This might sound like an easy feat at first, but to do so, she had to push and squeeze herself through all the other officers who stood behind her at the railing.

By the time she finally managed to reach the entrance to the room, Kid had already veiled the whole room in smoke and prepared his finally exit. Desperately to not let him get away, Aoko pushed forward despite her aching lungs and exhausted legs. She barely managed to reach the elevator shaft, before the platform had risen fully. Though she didn't even try to hide her approach, the loud sounds of the elevator made it impossible for Kid to hear her until it was too late.

In her reckless rush, Aoko didn't pay careful attention to her surroundings and stumbled over a small ledge marking the edge of the elevator shaft. She fell down on the platform with all her momentum and tried to cushion her fall with her outstretched arms. Only that she didn't hit the ground, but Kid from behind, pushing him over the ledge, just as he was about to twirl around.

For a moment, Aoko thought the magician had just fallen to his death, but then she noticed the gloved hand desperately clutching the platforms ledge. She immediately scrambled towards it, grabbing it firmly.

Confused and surprised Kid had looked up towards her as Aoko began to pull with all her might. But instead of hauling the thief back on the platform, his hand suddenly gave way and Aoko fell backwards, colliding painfully with the solid metal. Surprised, she noted that she was still clutching something in her hands and as she looked, she saw that it was a white glove.

Realizing what has happened, Aoko was about to jump back to the ledge, when the moving elevator finally closed the gap. Immediately getting up, the disguised girl rushed back towards the exit, stumbling breathlessly on the balcony, overlooking the whole hall.

Down there, she saw how Kid was backed against a wall, surrounded by police officers slowly advancing. For a moment, she was glad that he had apparently survived the fall unscathed, but her joy quickly gave way to horror as she saw how Kid handed the 'Ballet de fées' over towards her dad.

 _"What is he doing?!"_ Aoko wondered, watching stunned as her father slapped a handcuff around the thief's wrist _"He isn't …?! That IDIOT!"_

Rushing down the stairs as fast as she could, taxing her already tired body even more, she managed to catch up to her father escorting Kid outside. This wouldn't have been possible if not for the mass of reporters and dinner guest, clogging the buildings exit to get a good look at the thief.

By the time her Dad finally managed to get the thief outside, Aoko was only a few steps behind him, hearing every word uttered.

"Somebody get that thief to headquarters. I have to clean this mess up." her father ordered, sounding utterly confused and dumbfounded. Apparently, as Aoko could well imagine, he had pictured Kid's capture completely different and was now pretty flabbergasted by the whole situation.

About to volunteer to bring Kid back, Aoko was however interrupted by three other officers, who were quicker than her. Cursing a little under her breath, she immediately began to think of other plans to get in the police van. After all, if not for her clumsiness, the thief would never have been caught, so she felt as if it was her obligation to break him free again. That was at least the reason she told herself.

Tailing after the three officers, who had taken Kid over from Nakamori's grip, Aoko was still trying to find a different method than simply knocking all three out with the sleeping gas she brought. Originally, she intended to use it as a last resort move for herself, should she get caught by the police or somebody else. But right now, it would probably become Kid's last resort move even though Aoko would have preferred a different method.

Lost in her musing, Aoko was about to round the edge of the building towards where the parking lot lay, when she suddenly heard the voice of one of the three officers from before.

"So, you drive to the address the boss has given us, while we stay in the back, keeping an eye on Kid. Got it?" he whispered, though his voice was noticeably exited and thus far too loud for a mere whisper "Man, we're lucky bastards. Getting our bounty served on a silver plate like this!"

Aoko could literally feel how the blood froze in her veins.

 _"Snake's men!"_ she immediately realized and hurried to not lose them, paying extra careful attention towards keeping her steps quiet. Thanks to the many shadows and dark corners the few streetlamps of the parking lot didn't reach, it was a piece of cake for Aoko to sneak after the men.

They approached a police van, while one man went immediately towards the driver cabin, starting the engine of the car. The others two unlocked the backdoor and shoved Kid inside the back compartment. Fearing that they would board and be gone in a flash, Aoko hurried to close up again, finding cover behind a patrol car, parked nearby.

One of the two men already climbed past Kid and Aoko saw, that the other just pushed Kid inside and was about to follow. Desperate to not lose them, knowing it would spell certain death for Kid, she ducked out from behind the car and rushed up towards the last officer outside.

She had no plan what she was about to do, but the next moment, she had kicked him in his kneecap and pressed the cloth drenched in the liquid form of her sleeping gas firmly over his mouth. His muffled scream was drowned out by the car engine and soon his body went limp. Not knowing what to do with the unconscious man, she hastily pushed him behind a bush, before she quickly climbed into the back of the police car.

The other guard didn't seem to suspect anything, having already taken his helmet off and was now staring intently at Kid. Seating herself as far away as possible from both, Aoko did her best to portrait a watchful stance, hoping to appear as though she was wary of Kid.

Apparently, her act managed to fool the other guard as he didn't even look at her, even when they drove out of the parking lot. The ride started smooth and so, Aoko had time to carefully observe the whole situation. The disguised traitor in the back with her was still staring daggers at the magicians slumped posture, while the driver seemed to concentrate on the street.

Seeing that there was a rough iron mesh separating the back to the front, she immediately knew that it wouldn't be easy to take out the men in the front. If she could take out the guard without the driver noticing, she and Kid could easily slip away.

But her plan was made obsolete the instance the guard began to open his mouth and mock Kid. If she put him to sleep now, the driver would notice without a doubt. After all, it was hard to not listen to the bossy voice and prideful comments, to the point where Aoko wondered if the driver could still concentrate on the street.

 _"Still concentrate on the street?! Of course! I can use his screaming as a distraction_!" the idea suddenly plopped into Aoko's mind and she carefully pulled out the small tank full of sleeping gas she brought along and hid it behind her back, opening it a little. By now, the guards mocking had become a series of very vulgar and disgusting threats to the point where Aoko really hoped he wouldn't suddenly shoot Kid.

Just as she though so, the guard suddenly bent over in a fit of coughs. Seeing her opportunity, Aoko quickly leaned forward, giving the impression of being concerned for her colleague, while in truth, she rolled the fully opened gas canister over the floor, directly towards the driver's cabin.

Distracted by the coughing, neither Kid nor the guard noticed when the small tank rolled past them and right through under the iron mesh, coming to rest between the two front seats. The invisible gas was now gushing out into the room, but the car engine along with another even more savage comments of the guard completely drowned it out.

Aoko would have loved to sigh, seeing that the hardest part was over, when the guard suddenly pulled a gun at Kid. He didn't seem to have any intention of shooting, but the man had proven mad enough so Aoko wasn't sure about this.

It was hard for her to stay impassive and distant, seeing how uncontrolled the fake officers was waving his gun around. Yet when Kid suddenly looked towards her with a pleading look, Aoko knew that something had to happen fast.

 _"Please gas. Take effect! Please!"_ she begged silently, not daring to attack the man with his gun. Right now, he was leaning backwards, grinning sardonically at Kid, about to open his mouth, when suddenly the car began to shake.

Afterwards, things happened really fast. Aoko knew the car was about to crash, so she immediately pulled her visor up and the gas mask, the task force always carried around, over her face. Grabbing a hold on the hand railing and the bench, bracing for the impact, Aoko observed with great satisfaction that the sleeping gas must have taken effect.

The driver had already fallen asleep and she knew, it couldn't take long till Kid and the guard would follow his example. However, she also knew that she had to keep the two in this small room, till they were asleep, or things could go wrong very badly. Pulling her gun out to threaten them if necessary, Aoko saw with horror that the guard had started to lash out at Kid.

His punch however, missed the thief by lengths and when he was about to throw the second, the gas took its effect and he slumped to the floor. Kid apparently needed a few seconds to grasp what was happening and by the time he seemed to notice, his body had already gone limp and he feel to the floor.

Looking through the windshield, Aoko saw that the vehicle had crashed in a traffic light post, coming to a stop since the driver was no longer pressing down the gas. With a quick glance back to Kid, she saw how he now starred up at her, his eyes already half closing.

Smiling a little behind her gas mask, she simply said 'all will be well' but didn't know whether he still heard her or had already drifted off to sleep. But she had no time to worry about that, since, even in the dead of night, a car crash can't just go unnoticed.

Rising quickly, Aoko hurriedly pulled Kid outside of the wreckage, dragging him over the crossing and in a small and hidden alley, paying careful attention that nobody saw them. Making sure he was hidden by the shadows, she immediately went back and handcuffed the two guardsmen to the iron mesh separating front and back.

All that was left to do now, was to plant some irrefutable evidence that the two men were not really policemen. This, however, proved quite simple, since they carried two identification cards and two driving licenses in their wallets, one for their police aliases and one for their real identities.

Placing them clearly visible on the floor in front of the two men, Aoko was certain that the police couldn't simply ignore them. Especially not considering the task force's recent records with criminals infiltrating them in order to kill Kid.

Once again checking to make sure the cuffs were tightly locked, Aoko quickly got the crime scene tape out of the van and spun it around the crash site, before she quickly took off, changed out of her police gear and hurried home.

And that was how she arrived at home and fell exhausted on her bed. She was rather certain, that Kid would manage to escape the scene, before the police would have a chance of finding him. However, despite the apparent success of today's heist for her, Aoko felt more frustrated than content.

So many things had gone astray today and even with Kid's and her luck, things nearly turned out badly. Especially her blunder, when she stumbled over the ledge, annoyed her more than anything. What would have been if she stumbled, when she rushed down the stairs? Or when she sneaked up on the fake officers kidnapping Kid?

Angrily she kicked the police gear aside and stumbled into the shower, cleaning herself up. Normally Aoko loved warm and long showers, but today her foul mood and her tired eyes prevented her from enjoying it. Once all the sweat and dirt was washed off, Aoko went back into her room and slipped into her pyjama.

She would have love nothing more than to simply fall down on her bed and sleep, but she knew that she couldn't leave all her props laying scattered on the floor. Picking them up with an annoyed groan, Aoko stomped the stairs down and threw all her stuff simply in her small workshop, not bothering to put anything away.

Knowing that the uncleanliness would end up annoying her when she entered her secret chamber the next time, the girl marched back up and finally fell on her bed, quickly succumbing to blissful sleep.

O

Similarly, to what his neighbor did just some minutes ago, Kaito arrived exhausted and beaten at his front door. Yet, unlike Aoko, he didn't stumble over the porch and up to his bed, but hurried round to the side of his house.

Eyeing up the dark window on the second floor of the Nakamori house, Kaito didn't wait long till he clambered up the façade. He simply didn't have the patience for carefulness right now.

Hauling himself up on the windowsill, Kaito peeked through the window in the quiet room behind. All lay in darkness and even when Kaito strained his ears, he couldn't make anything out in the whole house. Silently, he picked the lock of the window, slipping through it with a breeze of fresh air.

There she was. Laying on her side, body curled up a little and breathing slowly, Aoko was already sleeping. Kaito couldn't help but getting enthralled by her slightly parted lips and the faint blush on her cheeks. He would have loved to just remain there standing, watching Aoko snuggled in her cushions, but he came here for business, not for pleasure.

Tearing himself away from the view, Kaito swept his gaze through the room, taking in everything. There lay their homework on Aoko's desk, already filled out with Aoko's messy yet cute handwriting, with various pens scattered over it.

Creeping over to her desk, he opened the drawers as quietly as he could and peeked inside. He didn't dare to touch anything, not wanting to leave any clue that he had been here, but one item was too tempting to pass up. It was a notebook with various post-its sticking out the top. Carefully he opened it and riffled through the many pages.

It was filled with notes, theories and facts, all concerning him or his heists. There was a careful description of the plane statue, the position of the jewel marked with a red dot, while distances were noted neatly next to the sketch.

Impressed with the fine and detailed work, Kaito skipped through more pages, eventually stumbling over a page only filled with the words written in big letters 'Lessons from Conan-sensei'. Apparently, Aoko had marked a sort of chapter change with this, for afterwards, Kaito only found notes and exercises designed to school ones deductional abilities.

A little disappointed by that he skipped back to the last entry dedicated to his heists, finding that it was the preparations for the heist, where he was out for the emperor's necklace. That reminded him, that the necklace along with the jewel from his last heists, had yet to be given back, meaning that they must still be in Aoko's possession. Quickly, he looked around in her room, opened drawers and closets, but finding neither of the two objects.

 _"Maybe she has already given them back and the police hasn't told the public for some reason. That or, she hid them somewhere else to prevent her dad from stumbling over them."_ Kaito mussed, sweeping one last glance over the room before he walked back over to Aoko's bed.

Bending down, he gingerly felt her hair and inhaled the smell from her hair. He felt like an absolute creep doing so, but he didn't do it following a primal instinct. When he felt the slightly damp hair along with the fresh smell of apples she always used, Kaito felt certain she hadn't been present at today's heist.

For one, he had the phone call with her as evidence and even though he knew that one was technically able to fake it, it would still require careful preparation of the necessary technical applications along with a spot to escape his gaze in the huge hall. Both of which were things he doubted Aoko had. And for two, the fact that she had showered recently made it even unlikelier that she had been out of the house that evening.

He knew that Aoko always liked to take nice and long showers in the evening, not because he peeked on her but because she told him so. And she definitely wouldn't have had the time to take a long shower, if she was still at the heist when he was driven away in the police van.

Aside from that, if Aoko really was the mysterious stranger on today's heist, it would mean that she pushed him off the platform and broke him out of a police car afterwards, both feats he just couldn't imagine Aoko performing.

Content that his little investigation had proven to him, that Aoko has apparently given up her chase after him, Kaito retreated back through the window, not forgetting to replace the notebook just where he found it and to lock the window after he left.

After all, neither wanted he Aoko to find him out nor for her to catch a cold.

O

The next morning came with bright sunshine and puffy white clouds floating through the sky, occasionally casting a shadow down over the city. When Aoko rose from her sleep, she still felt somewhat sore from all the exercise of yesterday, but it was comparatively little considering how exhausted she felt the day before.

Making her way down the stairs, she found her father sitting on the couch, watching TV. He looked exhausted with heavy sleeping bags below his eyes, but just when Aoko was about to ask him whether he had worked through the last night, he motioned for her to be silent and listen to the news reporter.

 **"The police have just arrested the famous millionaire Oda Yamazuki, who has hosted yesterday's Kid heists. After the police managed to apprehend Kaito Kid, though he escaped from his prison van later that evening, the police secured the stolen jewel along with a number of documents, proving that the owner of the famous 'Ballet de fées' has financed and organized a children smuggler ring. According to documents the police uncovered after a careful search of the suspects private rooms, more than 3000 children had been sold off and shipped aboard, some of which lived in the foster homes financed by Oda Yamazuki's children welfare organization, before they reportedly went missing. Till now, official forces have yet to uncover Yamazuki-san's partners in crime, but they displayed great confidence to make quick success thanks to the documents uncovered by Kid."**

As the news reporter finished, her father turned off the television and slumped back in the cushions. Silence was filling the room for a few seconds, before he muttered to himself "And I nearly locked him away for exposing a children smuggler…"

With that, her father got up and went upstairs, mumbling that he would go to bed. Aoko could understand him. He might be used to working long shifts and staying up late, but Kid's heists were always more tasking than other work and the emotional fatigue he must feel from this news couldn't be underestimated either.

Suffice to say, Aoko finally knew why Kid had held this heist. After all, one did not accidentally carry very incriminating evidence around with him, especially not when you were a phantom thief, who must be glad for every additional tool he can bring along.

Making her way over to the kitchen to prepare breakfast, Aoko could not help but once again think of the last two heists. It had confused her that the police headquarter had yet to take additional security measures for the Kid heist. After the massacre, which was the heist before this one, Aoko had expected tighter controls, more officer and at least clearance to use tasers.

But nothing had changed, nor did her dad elude to any planned restructuring work either. It was possible that the moles of the Magpies had pulled their strings to make this happen, since they would also suffer significantly from tighter security, but even they couldn't just pull the rug over something like this.

Aoko was sure, that there were things bound to happen and she already made plans for whatever new situation might arise.

But for now, she had other more pressing work to do, namely dropping off an important package, before she would go and visit Ran and Conan.

O

When Kaito watched the news this morning, he was pleased to see that, despite his failure in stealing the gem, he had managed to accomplish his real goal and brough the children smuggler ring in the eye of the police.

He had stumbled over the evidence for this, when he was out gathering information on Snake's illustrious gang and thought it would be perfect for getting his mind off things a little. Only that he now was far more confused by what was happening thanks to 'helmet guy', as he had decided to call the mysterious stranger, who was apparently out to kill him, but won't let him get arrested either.

Truth be told, he had been scratching his head about who this guy might be since he woke up this morning, yet he couldn't come up with any leads. After all, though he might be a criminal, he had next to no contact to other thieves and scoundrels, who had the ambition to steal from his heists.

Of course, it had happened before, but then, they were never out for him in particularly but mostly for the jewel or to blame him for the theft. Needless to say, that he had never been trumped by any of their attempts and even if they ended up fleeing with the jewel, he had always deliberately let them get away with it.

Scratching his head one last time, Kaito realized that any further conjecture wouldn't bring him any closer to his target. In the end, he was no detective, but a thief and as such, he had different matters to attend.

However, the most important point of his to do list was still related to this newcomer. Even though Kaito found it highly unlikely that Aoko was that newcomer, he couldn't be sure about it and so, he decided to force a definitive answer on his next heist.

That being said, while he knew how to get his answer, he had yet to plan the heist and so, that was what he would dedicate his time to now.

Some might now think that he tackled this whole problem concerning Aoko far to confrontational and that, if he would just sit down with as Kid her and talk matters over, they could reach a mutual agreement. After all, it would be beneficial for both of them, if the men in black were brought down quickly and permanently. Kaito would get his revenge and Aoko would get her father back.

Yet, while Kaito's main goal might be the destruction of Snake's syndicate, he valued one task higher than that and his own revenge. Above all, he wanted to keep Aoko safe and sound. And for that, any involvement with him was dangerous.

He knew for a fact, that Aoko would not idly sit by, if he simply told her his story (leaving out his real identity of course). Her sense of justice and sympathy would doubtlessly persuade her to help him as actively as she could, causing her to run right into the crossfire between the criminals and the police.

So, though a joined effort might end the threat of Snake's men more quickly and make Kaito's life easier, he had already decided that Aoko's life and safety mattered more than convenience and practicality.

Distancing himself as far as he could from her only added this endeavor, since pleading her to stay at home would doubtlessly only strengthen her conviction and sense of self-empowerment. As you should ignore a child throwing a tantrum to teach it that there was no use to it, he similarly tried to teach Aoko that there was no use going after him, by ignoring her.

But now that this approach had definitely and utterly failed, he had no choice but to employ more drastic measures

O

The sound of honking cars along with the angry shouting of their drivers, drifted through the streets of Beika, as Aoko ascended the stairs to the detective agency. She was running late, doubtlessly thanks to her little detour to the Imperial palace, where she carefully placed a package, containing the Emperor's necklace.

It had been surprisingly easy to get the package into the palace grounds unnoticed, surely because of the many tourists that were bustling around. Since Aoko's distrust towards the police force had reached a level, where she didn't dare to hand over the jewels to them anymore, she had instead opted to hand them to the emperor himself or at least his advisors. That way, at least one of the gems would surely not land in the hands of corrupted officials. What she would do with the other, however, she didn't know yet.

So, her running late by 15 minutes was definitely worth the effort, especially considering what a truly magnificent garden the emperor owned. She would have loved to show pictures to Ran, but knew perfectly well, that she couldn't do that without arousing her suspicion. Chuckling a little over the silly idea, Aoko pressed the bell and waited for Ran to let her inside.

The small yet comfortable living room of the Mori family was once again filled with the aroma of freshly brewed tea, as Ran bid her inside, where Conan was already wating at the low table. He had his nose buried in a manga Aoko didn't know, yet she was fairly sure it had to be some mystery story. She knew how Conan loved to read them.

"What are you reading?" she promptly asked the small boy, fully knowing that she had cut off his 'you're late' comment.

Expecting him to show her the cover of the book he was reading, Aoko was surprised as Conan quietly slipped the manga under his cushion and evaded her gaze.

"What's that about?" Aoko wondered, intrigued by what Conan found embarrassing enough to hide from her, since that was obviously what he just had done. About to pester him into telling her, her endeavour was soon cut short when Ran spoke up.

"Come on Conan-kun. There's nothing embarrassing in admitting you're reading Shonen manga." she chided gently, apparently having experienced this reaction before. Conan's face flushed slightly, and he muttered something under his breath Aoko couldn't understand. For a moment, she wondered, why he would be so flustered to reveal what he liked to read.

But then, she remembered that he always tried to appear more mature than his own age, so reading such a 'childish' genre of manga would only make people treat him like the child he was and not like the adult he wanted to be. In a way, it reminded her a little of Kid.

The magician also always displayed his calm, collected and arrogant side, but from the little glimpses she caught from the person behind the mask, she concluded that he was far more insecure and caring, than he let on.

 _"But that makes only sense. After all, his heists are more show than anything else."_ the girl thought to herself, finding it a little ironic that Kid and Conan were so alike in that regard.

"Anyway, how are your studies progressing?" Ran suddenly interjected, apparently finding the silence that elapsed a little unnerving.

"Oh, I think I'm doing great" Aoko answered, "but that's ultimately for Sensei to decide." With that, she aimed a cheeky grin at the small boy, still seated at the table.

Letting a small sigh escape, Conan then said "Yes, I think you're doing pretty good. Though you lack practice for sure."

"But I use it regularly when I watch Kid's heists on television!" Aoko pouted, the lie coming very easy to her. It turns out, learning how to detect a liar also helped greatly in become a good liar herself.

Conan, however, didn't seem to catch on her lie and only sent and arched eyebrow her way, before directing his words at Ran, "Speaking of heists, didn't the police announce a public speech on the future of the Kid heist?

"Ah, now that you mention it, I think they did." Ran agreed, turning to Aoko next and asking, "Should we watch it?"

"Yes, please!" Aoko ejaculated instantly, only realizing too late, that her reply might have been a bit too eager, "that is, if it is ok for you?"

Her outburst was only met with a small chuckle from Ran, who instantly agree to her and soon the three were seated around the small table and stared at the television screen. Just as they switched to the right channel, a stout man in his fifties climbed on the rostrum under the constant flashing of cameras.

Conan swiftly explained to the two girls that this was Superintendent Matsumoto, former chief of Division one. Aoko had to admit that the man surely looked like you would expect a Superintendent to look. Not only was he in very good shape for his age and cut an imposing figure, but the scar over his left eye gave further prove of his services.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" the Superintendent began in what seemed to be sad and almost regretting tones, "Before I will explain how the police will deal with the recent developments regarding the Kid heists, I wanted to once again honour all those brave officer, who tragically lost their lives in line of duty. While I know that my words can in no way compensate for their lose, I nonetheless offer once again my sincerest apology to their families."

He made a pause, seemingly to collect himself, before he continued "A tragedy such as this, can never be allowed to repeat itself again, but neither can we allow criminals to get away unscathed after committing such a gruesome crime. Thus, we have seen it necessary, to not only increase the manpower of the Kid Task Force, but also to add specialist from different fields to their ranks. From today onwards, the Task Force will no longer operate under Division two, but will receive orders directly from the police board."

Aoko gave an audible gasp at that. Till now, the fact that Division two was ordered to go after Kid, meant that the police didn't regard his heists as violent crimes. But adding officers from different divisions, meant that they no longer saw Kid's heist as mere thefts, but as something more.

"As such" Matsumoto began, drawing Aoko's attention back towards the screen, "it stands to reason that we have to newly structure the leadership of the Task Force. The responsibility for such an operation can no longer rests on the shoulders of an inspector alone."

Right that moment, Conan shot a concerned glance towards Aoko. He knew as well as she did, what the massacre had meant for her father's career and though Aoko had expected that he would have to step down from his post, hearing it like this still hit her hard.

But the Superintendent was not finished "This, however, does in no way mean that me solely blame Inspector Nakamori for what has happened. Though we are currently investigating how strongly his decisions affected the situation, we have come to the conclusion that every officer would have acted the same in his situation. With the available information and the experience of previous heists, it was unreasonable to expect to face such a large and well organized force. Though we cannot allow Inspector Nakamori to continuously lead the Task Force, purely on the reason of his rank, he will remain a leading officer and invaluable advisor for future heist. Future leadership of the task force will fall to Superintendent Ashikabe."

With that, Matsumoto moved aside and motioned for another man to step up. But as the elderly officer with his white hair and slightly bend posture was shown on the screen, Aoko had to summon all her acting abilities as to not flinch back with a loud gasp.

 _"That's the Magpie guy from the roof! The one who mocked Snake!"_ her mind screamed, instantly puzzling together the pieces. The fact that this man, who she was absolutely sure was the same as the one she had seen on the roof that night, was apparently a police superintendent, confirmed how deep the corruption reached.

The man cast a warm yet knowing smile towards the camera and Aoko felt shivers crawls down her spine. After a moment of silence, Ashikabe cleared his throat and started his own speech.

"I see the doubt in your eyes, my dear friends. 'Isn't he too old for this?' 'Will he be able to keep up with Kid?' 'Shouldn't he already be retired? All of these questions are understandable. Asking questions is a good thing. But please, do not judge me before I have had opportunity to answer your questions. Of course, I can not reveal my plans to you all just yet, since Kid is surely watching right now as well."

With that he looked directly into the camera, his icy blue eyes seemingly piercing right through the screen.

"But be prepared. Next heist, I will prove to the world and to you, that no man can fool around with us and get away unscathed!" he spoke in perfectly quiet and calm tones, looking to all the world as though he would merely warn Kid and raise the officers moral.

But Aoko knew better. She knew that the 'us' didn't refer to the police, but to the Magpies.

"This guy seems serious." Ran observed, her voice lightly tinged with worry "Hopefully he will not authorize the use of weapon against Kid."

"I doubt that," Conan retorted in a relaxed manner, though Aoko thought she could see a sort of supressed anxiety in his posture, "Kid is far too popular amongst the public and though the recent incident demands certain measures, I can't see them threatening Kid with guns."

Aoko was about to interject something, but in that moment, Ashikabe answered a question of a reporter. "I see, you are determined to receive at least some news. Very well. I can share with you the knowledge, that sadly we have to take certain precautions against further incidents. Though the officers are not permitted to use their guns against Kid, we will issue them with handguns and one team will carry a full set of SWAT equipment. Additionally, the usage of taser will be allowed for any further heists. Even against Kid."

This declaration caused a stir in the mass of reporters, many of them surging forward with new questions. Ashikabe tried to calm them, but it took at least a minute till they were listening again.

"Please, please, there is no need for such a ruckus. Of course, I do understand what this means for the long-standing tradition between Kid and the police, but we cannot ignore the recent incidents. Though he might not pose a threat, Kid is still a major distraction and thus could cause further casualties amongst the officers, even if he does not intend to. The police have honored his 'no harm' policy and will continuously do so, but we no longer can afford the luxury of beating him, what you would call, fair and square. Do not forget lives are at stake! It pains me to admit it, but Kid heists are no longer fun and games. The earlier we can catch Kid, the earlier will his enemies lose the chance to hurt him. He might be a criminal, but he is still a resident of Japan and as such, we have a duty to protect his life as much as the life of any other."

This got him a round of applause from the crowd, so he was once again trying to calm them down.

"That guy's good." Conan observed, "he just sold the press the idea that arresting Kid and putting him behind bars will actually be for Kid's own good. This way, he kills two birds with one stone."

That way, Aoko hadn't even looked at it, though Conan was right. This superintendent might not be a threat on his own due to his age, but she couldn't deny that he was sharp.

 _"Hang on, two birds with one stone…"_ a thought suddenly occurred to Aoko. It still made no sense to her, why the Magpies had gathered back then on the roof, but now she had an idea.

 _"What if he purposefully led them there and was out for a confrontation, knowing that such an incidence would force the police to act?"_ Aoko mussed, knowing from her dad, that nobody was eager to take his post, since Kid was for one, so annoying and obnoxious to deal with and two, catching him could only get you the wrath of the public.

 _"So, it must have been easy for him to convince the board of appointing him as the new leader of the task force, so now he can puppet both sides: the police and the Magpies!"_ she further realized. But it went even deeper than that. If Ashikabe was charged with this operation for both sides, he would reap the praise and prestige for capturing Kid and locking him away twice!

The Magpies wanted to get rid of the thief, so he could no longer disturb their search for Pandora. The police on the other hand wanted to catch Kid, because he was a criminal. Their goal was ultimately the same and with Ashikabe now leading both parties, the scales tipped severely against Kid.

"Does this mean the public will still not be allowed to attend the heists" Aoko was abruptly drawn out of her thoughts, as another reporter put this question forth. She had been a little curious about that as well, but she didn't think that the answer could be a possible yes. Yet she was in for a surprise.

"Sadly, the current situation doesn't allow for unlimited public access like it was in the past. Yet, we have decided that a complete exclusion of the public is neither desirable nor practical. Thus, we will once again open up the heists for the public, though we will have to limit number of people and accessible area. The last heist was a very valuable lesson for that and even if we are unable to open up a spot for the citizens, we have already made arrangements for a permanent live coverage, even in dire situations." Ashikabe explained, astonishing Aoko as much as all the reporters.

To Aoko, however, it didn't make much sense at first. There was no possible gain in extensive media coverage for the Magpies nor would the presence of the public benefit them in any way. Granted, with civilians involved, there would always be the possibility of taking hostages to escape, but for an organisation that tried to stay away from the public eye, a hostage crisis wouldn't be very desirable.

 _"Then again, the shoot-out on top of the building wasn't beneficial either, so they might have changed strategies now."_ she mussed. However, if her speculations just came close to the truth, then Ashikabe was more than willing to sacrifice his own henchmen, if it served his cause. In all probability, he had already made plans in case the Magpies would get found out and dissolved by official forces.

Massaging her templet to fend of the growing headache, Aoko already wished the old man would soon die of a heart attack. After all, Snake had already been a threatening opponent to deal with, even though he wasn't smart by any means. But Ashikabe didn't only seem considerably smarter than Snake, but also wielded more power in the organisation, so Aoko could only imagine what a danger he would pose.

"Are you not feeling well, Aoko-chan?" Ran asked, startling Aoko with her question, since the girl had been so engrossed in her thoughts, "You look a little pale."

"Ah, no. I'm fine. It's just the weather." Aoko lied, not keen on letting Ran or Conan know of her worries for obvious reasons.

"Ohhh..." Conan only commented shortly, before he switched topics, "Anyways, I'm surprised they are reopening the heists for the public, even though you'll need an invitation to attend. Do you think they'll send me one?"

"I hope not." Ran said, a worried look in her eyes, "It still doesn't seem all that safe to me and this new Superintendent… there's something off about him."

"Off? In what way?" her little ward questioned, apparently not sensing anything wrong with the new Superintendent.

 _"Strange. Conan-kun has always been very perceptive of a person's character."_ Aoko wondered, though she had to confess, that she didn't know if she herself would have suspected anything, if she didn't know the truth already.

"I don't really know. It's just that I feel like he doesn't really care for what he just said." Ran tried to explain, but judging from Conan's still confused look, she didn't do a very good job of it.

"Anyways, I'm sure Aoko-chan will be allowed to attend the heists. So, will you once again try to capture Kid?" the Mouri girl asked, turning her gaze towards Aoko, seemingly expecting something.

"I don't think I will." Aoko confessed and apparently that had precisely not been what Ran expected.

"You don't go?!" Ran blurted out, "But I thought you wanted to catch Kid for your dad!"

"I do." Aoko answered "It's just that I don't think I'll be able to do that on the heist."

At the questioning glances this earned her from Conan and Ran, Aoko started to explain. "They said that they would allow the public access to a reserved area, but if I'm not allowed to chase after Kid, there's no way I can actually capture him. And in that case, I think it would only frustrate me to see the police failing."

Her last words had a slightly bitter edge to them, enough so that Ran now looked concerned, "But what will you do then? Simply stay at home?" she asked.

"I don't really know." Aoko confessed, genuinely not knowing what she should do.

 _"If they restructure the whole task force, I guess my identity as Nakami Kuro won't make it into the new roster. Besides, I'm not sure I could achieve anything, if I had to follow orders. So, is there really any point in attending the heists."_ she mussed, unable to come up with a new plane at the moment.

"Then come on." Ran suddenly said, her voice a mixture of commanding and pleading, "I'm sure if my dad asks, they'll let me and Conan attend, so let us all go to the next heists. Maybe it won't even be that bad and if you don't like it, you can stay at home for future heists."

It actually didn't sound that bad. At first Aoko had denied going, so she could sneak on the heist as a policeman, but after thinking it over just now, the prospect of standing around and guarding some door or window as an order from the new Superintendent, didn't sound that appealing. It might not be that bad to spend time on the heist as a spectator, riddling together with Conan how Kid's tricks worked and laughing over the officer's incapability.

It sounded fun.

"Ah, what can it hurt? Okay, let's do this!" she finally answered, a little thrilled on the prospect of spending an evening like a completely normal high school girl. Who knows, now that her dad was no longer responsible, he might even be home more often.

Though, it didn't sit entirely right with Aoko. She had to once again think of Kid. Of how he had desperately held on to the platform. Of how she had wanted to help him, but how he slipped out of her grasp. Of his fearful eyes when he had looked at the disguised Magpie henchmen in the police van.

Could she really leave him alone, just like that?

Could she simply turn her back on him and go back to how her life had been?

And wouldn't she regret it, if she actually did?

She already wavered in her decision.

Was there truly nothing she could do to help him?

Nothing at all?

"Great, then that's settled." Conan suddenly piped up, not suspecting the turmoil Aoko was currently going through. "Who knows, after this, maybe Kid will change up things as well? Maybe he'll post heist notes for multiple places and times to thin out the police force? That would at least increase his chances."

 _"Multiple heists?!"_ it suddenly struck Aoko _"That's it!"_

* * *

All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.

Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part.

Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.

Farewell


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The sun was slowly rising over the horizon, casting its golden rays down onto the city and through windows. Early risers were already up, getting ready for a day of fun and free time. It was Saturday.

But not everybody has just gotten out of bed. In a small, dusty room, only illuminated by a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling by a crooked wire, a young girl was still working furiously. Heavy bags and reddened eyes indicated that she has not slept at all during last night, but had stayed awake, dedicating all her time to this project.

Putting her stitching down for a moment, Aoko rubbed her aching eyes for the utmost time this hour. She was dead tired.

It wasn't like she had never pulled all-nighters to study and cram, but this wasn't the first night of sleep she passed up in a row. Though she had slept for 4 hours yesterday, after the sleepless nights from Thursday to Wednesday and from Wednesday to Thursday it was nearly impossible for her to stay awake.

Deciding that she couldn't simply skip school or afford to sleep through it, Aoko had then reluctantly went to bed, which resulted in the already mentioned 4 hours of sleep. But today, the 4 hours were precious time she couldn't afford to lose, not when she didn't know when Kid would set his next heist up.

She had already planned things through, made preparations to launch her own scheme as soon as Kid announced his heist. But all of this would be worthless, if she wasn't able to complete the equipment she needed, before the next heist rolled around the corner.

Yet even though her schedule was tight and time scares, Aoko had to lay down her work for now and leave the room. She knew her father had come home last night, and she also knew that he would soon get up to go to work. Of course, that meant that she needed to prepare breakfast for him.

The reason for that was not that Aoko absolutely wanted to or that her dad wouldn't have been capable of preparing his own breakfast, but that she didn't want to alert him. She doubted whether he would really notice anything and even if he did, it was unlikely he would pay it any mind.

But Aoko couldn't afford to take chances, not when she had already committed so much to this plan. After all, while her father might not suspect anything, it was better to never even give him the chance of suspecting her. And if this took the 20 minutes necessary to prepare breakfast, then so be it.

Quickly applying some very basic make up to hide the worst of the signs that came with sleep deprivation, Aoko went into the kitchen and set to work. A quarter of an hour later, she could hear the shuffling yet rushed steps of her father coming down the stairs, accompanied by a stifled yawn. She just finished setting down the bowls and cups on the table when he rounded the corner.

He greeted her in the usual sleepy manner he displayed early in the morning and set to devour his breakfast immediately. Despite him not being a morning person at all, he always rose in the early hours and rushed off to work, not wanting to miss any news about the thief.

Especially now that the task force has been restructured from the base to the top, he wanted to be ever present and assure himself that things would work out. Thus, Aoko was not surprised, when he rose after five minutes, just having gulped down his coffee and said his goodbyes, leaving the house.

As she heard his car drive away, the girl quickly finished her own bowl and hastily put the dished away, immediately returning to her workshop. Only a few months prior, she would have scoffed at her father for not even waiting for her to finish breakfast, but now she understood why he didn't.

It might be a noble gesture, but it ultimately was just a waste of time. And wasting time was not something she could afford right now. After all, though she had already finished the mask and was in the midst of working on the costume for the next heist, there was still so much left to do and set up.

* * *

Days like this came and went, every day just as the day before. But eventually Aoko found herself dead tired and with strained nerves, seated at the table opposite of Conan and Ran.

"Are you sure you're alright, Aoko-neechan?" Conan asked, glancing over at her from his seat at the table "You don't look well at all."

"I'm fine, Conan-kun" Aoko assured him "Just a bit tired. That's all" This was however not quite the truth. Aoko desperately lacked sleep, yes, but if she had to guess, it was not her tired face but her foul mood that alarmed Conan.

And that even though she should not have any reason to be mad at all. She always looked forward to meeting Conan and Ran and now they were even going to discuss the upcoming heist. It also wasn't because of her tight schedule, since she had just finished everything she needed and all that was left was to wait for Kid's heists.

It had taken two weeks of continuous night and day work to finish and Kid hadn't even put his heist note out just yet. So more than ever, Aoko should be happy and look forward to the break, finally able to spend some precious free time again.

But despite all of this, she was annoyed. Annoyed and mad that she had to wait.

What annoyed her wasn't, however, the time wasted nor Kid for not having posted his heist already, but it was she herself. In ever free minute she had, every second unspent, her thoughts would invariably drift back to the upcoming heist. To the plans she made and the schemes she drew up.

And with thoughts, there came fears.

Questions like 'what if I mess up and get found out?' or 'what if Kid doesn't behave like I predicted?' haunted her mind. She was undoubtably anxious and nervous. It was similar to the thoughts and feelings you have, prior to an important exam, only much stronger.

And that was what annoyed her. She had thought everything through, had made plans for every possible variable and had accounted for every conceivable alteration to the point where it was practically impossible for anything to surprise her.

Yet despite that, she couldn't stop her brain from conjuring up the most horrible outcomes of her plans. Couldn't stop it from questioning her every decision and making her nervous and jumpy.

She absolutely hated this feeling. It made her feel like she was not in control, made her feel as though she was not prepared.

She was, for fuck's sake!

She was no longer the timid and naïve high schooler, thinking all it took to take down Kid were pretty words and a mop. She was past this, god damnit!

"I'm just a little nervous. That's all!" Aoko once again tried to convince Conan, but judging from his raised eyebrow, she failed miserably.

"Nervous because of what?" the grade schooler asked.

"Nervous because of all of this!" Aoko said, gesturing to include everything. "I know it's just another heist, but despite that, it feels like it's so much more!"

This vague explanation was apparently relatable enough for Ran and Conan since they both seemed to understand.

"Well, it surely feels much more important, now that the police have built this huge new task force. Not to forget that it's the first heist since the Emperor's heist where the public is allowed to attend again." Conan agreed, apparently thoughtful himself.

"But you don't have to be that nervous." Ran quickly interjected, feeling that Conan's answer would do little to calm the other girl down "After all, we're only going to watch. So, I'm sure you're only nervous because your dad's no longer fully in charge of everything."

"Yeah, that's probably it." Aoko agreed with a tried smile, realizing that the other two could never understand, as long as they didn't know the full story. But this story was something Aoko couldn't tell them, no matter what.

"Anyways, why are we meeting here?" she asked, hoping to change the topic of the conversation for good, "Is this coffee shop your usual place to meet, when important things come up?"

Conan and Ran only laughed awkwardly at that. "No, it's nothing like that." the Mouri girl was quick to assure her, "It's just that Dad has some important client in his office and doesn't want us to disturb them, so 'Poirot' was the best alternative."

Accepting the explanation readily, Aoko swept her gaze through the small room, taking in the faces of the few other guests. There was an old couple, apparently enjoying this beautiful afternoon with some cake and coffee. And in the corner furthest away from them, a group of middle schooler girls had their nose buried in books. History as Aoko noted.

The café truly had a very homely atmosphere and she really liked how calm everything seemed. _"The calm before the storm."_ she noted gravely as her gaze travelled back to their own table. But just as she passed the bar, her stare immediately snapped back and focused on the dark-skinned bartender.

" _Isn't that . . .? Yes! I'm sure that's the man who drove me home that night!"_ Aoko suddenly realized, as her gaze lingered on Amuro Tooru, as her mind recalled his name was. A few months ago, this realization would have caused her to google openly at him, but thanks to all her training and experience, one could barely note her brows lifting a tiny bit.

Yet, even a gesture as small as this, didn't escape Conan's watchful eyes. "Seen somebody you know?" he asked curiously following her gaze to were Amuro was just brewing coffee.

"What? Ah, no, no." Aoko quickly denied, a little at a loss how she should justify the prolonged attention. Deciding that a simply 'I was just lost in thoughts' wouldn't convince Conan, she opted for a different explanation.

"I just noticed that the group of girls in the corner over there, were constantly peeking over to the counter and so I looked what was so interesting." she replied easily, ready to add how handsome Amuro looked, should this not convince Conan.

But her emergency plan wasn't necessary as Ran answered "Amuro-san? Yes, he's very popular with the female customers, not only because of his looks, but also because he is so kind to everyone."

In that moment, a cheeky smile stole itself on karate championess's lips as she added "Interested in him?"

Aoko had, obviously, expected such a question and simply replied "Nah, though I can't deny that he is good looking. But I'm not in search of a boyfriend, so you don't have to worry about me being your rival, Ran-chan."

Despite the casual and offhanded way she had used, her words sparked a very notable reaction, not only from Ran, but from Conan as well. While the girl blushed a little and quickly denounced any romantic interest in Amuro, the small boy seemed to glower a bit at her for that comment.

" _He's really overprotective of his 'big sister'. How cute. Normally he always behaves so mature and calm."_ Aoko noted, once again enjoying to catch a glimpse of how Conan was behind the Kid-Killer and detective mask, which he wore most of the time.

But as much as she would have liked to tease him for this, she also knew that they had more important stuff to discuss and so she dropped the matter a little reluctantly "Anyways, why did you two want to meet with me? Has something happened that I should know?"

At that, Conan only grinned proudly "We've got great news!" He proclaimed, leaving a pause for the dramatic effect before he revealed the surprise "Not only did we manage to get permission to attend the heist, but because of a personal connection, we will even be able to hear of some of the security measures"

"Though, we'll have to stay with the rest of the civilians even before the heist starts." Ran added, with an apologetic smile. Undoubtedly, she hoped to surprise Aoko with the opportunity to play an active role in the heist, but Aoko was glad that the police stuck with their 'no civilians outside of designated area' policy.

After all, she needed the cover of the crowd for her plan and that was hardly possible, if she wasn't surrounded by one. Though she was sure that she could have adapted her plans accordingly, but she still felt a little bad for being relieved.

"Wow! Those are great news" she exclaimed instead, not wanting to disappoint the two's expectations "Never mind that we don't get the special treatment. According to what I heard from dad, even Hakuba, the son of the Superintended General, is not allowed to participate in the actual heist though he'll get a special seat."

"Hakuba-niisan?" Conan asked, apparently surprised by Aoko mentioning him "Isn't he out of the country?"

Aoko was quick to respond, glad for the change of topic, since she otherwise feared to give something away she shouldn't "Currently yes, but he said he will return next week, so it's very likely he will be here for the heist."

"I that so?" Ran now cut in "I didn't know Hakuba-kun was the son of the Superintendent General. Though that explains why he was always welcomed so warmly when he came to a heist."

"You have meet him before, Ran-chan?" Aoko asked and as Ran answered positively, she set her most innocent expression on her face and asked, "So, has Kudo-kun gotten a rival?"

As Ran sputtered for an answer and Conan jumped up in his chair, Aoko feigned complete guiltlessness as she specified 'as biggest Holmes expert of course.'

O

While Aoko had fun fooling around with Conan and Ran, Kaito was occupied with much more pressing matters. After all, it had obviously not slipped his attention, that the newly appointed Superintendent in charge of the task force was a member of the men in black.

And so, he quickly found the time to break into the police headquarters multiple times and copy all relevant files he could find on the man. However, to say it was a fruitless endeavour would be an understatement.

He had meticulously gone through all the files and double checked every entry, hoping to find some dirt that would stick. But there simply was none. As far as he could tell, the man named Yamanoske Ashikabe had as white of a vest as possible.

His early years were filled with diligent service and honour medals, as he rose steadily through the ranks, having acquired the position of Superintendent by the age of 32, before he took parental leave for around a year. After that, his file lacked any advancements or distinguished accomplishments, indicating that he had apparently settled down and took more time off from work to instead care for his family.

After he had served his remaining years, he had retired at the age of 60, only to re-enter service 3 years later, from then on assisting younger colleagues with his vast experience and keen mind for the past 5 years. He looked like any other veteran officer who dedicated his life fully to the force, yet unlike others, he seemed to understand the importance of family.

In any case, it was apparent to Kaito, that he would need some other plan to expose Ashikabe's evil doings. Heaving a heavy sigh and mourning after the countless hours lost on this endeavour, the young magician decided that it was time for a change in topics.

So, he packed away the numerous files and papers and instead pulled out a different stack. This one was dedicated to the 'helmet guy', but since this name was kinda ridiculous, Kaito had renamed him to a classic 'X'.

Though he didn't particularly like sleuthing, nor did he care for the work of a detective in general, he had decided that this time a thorough investigation would be necessary. After all, the possibility of some unknown thief lurking around on his heists, apparently working against Kid but also against the police, was a randomness factor he couldn't afford right now.

Kaito did not really know how the task force's behaviour would change under the rule of Ashikabe, yet he was certain that the experienced operative would not make things easier for him.

" _I might be lucky and get a little edge over them due to the officers not knowing or trusting each other, but I can't count on that to win."_ he speculated, but quickly focused his mind back on 'X'.

Contrary to what one might think, Kaito has spent most of his time since the last heist on gathering information on X and theorizing when and where he might have been involved before. Kaito wasn't entirely sure when he first appeared, but he knew that X was present on earlier heists than the last.

After all, X did not only possess a good amount of knowledge about Kid and his movements, though you could gathered this from watching TV, but also had intel about the police movements and access to their gear as well.

This had prompted the thief to pay another visit to the Metropolitan Police Headquarters, where he dug for possible suspects. There were numerous applicants and rookies he though suspicious, but one caught his attention in particular. A certain Nakami Kuro.

Like all the others as well, her background was completely fake, but unlike the others who simply had poorly faked documents, she had none whatsoever. Outside of the police's own network Nakami Kuro simply didn't exist. That was strange to begin with, since Kaito knew that the police at least bothered to check a person's background, though not very thoroughly as it seemed.

This however told him that whoever had created Nakami Kuro, had not infiltrated the police via a bought recruitment procedure, but had hacked their system. After all, in her file it said that Inspector Nakamori himself has approved of her, yet Kaito was fairly certain that the orderly detective would never approve of somebody with no references and empty file.

The fact that they didn't even bother to give Nakami Kuro a background was a mystery to him, but he guesses that they thought it not worth the time to create one. Anyways, Kaito had recognized the young woman as being the one who had received Akako's fortune reading.

At the time, he was fairly convinced it was Aoko in disguise, but now he knew that this wasn't possible. After all, Aoko might have many talents but hacking was certainly not one them. Of course, it could also have been a coincidence that Aoko had just picked the person to impersonate that had a fishy background, but the police surely wouldn't be stupid enough to allow entry for the same person twice.

So, after he had pretty much proven the fact that Nakami Kuro was one of X's disguise, he had dug for older disguises, but wasn't able to find one. At this point, he also started to think of X as a she, purely on the basis that Nakami Kuro was female and that it would be hard for a man to impersonate a woman of such a small and slender build.

But back to the topic of X's earlier visits. Either she had not been present on earlier heists, though Kaito doubted that, or she had to create Nakami Kuro because her old disguise had been compromised.

Looking at the files of the heist before that however brough Kaito no closer to his solution, since there have been so many changes due to the dead and injured officers from the roof-top massacre, that it was impossible to single anyone out and he didn't really want to go through all of their backgrounds either.

So, he switched tactics. Instead of looking for suspicious police files, he concentrated on establishing what X wanted, though this had been a fairly frustrating task as well. All Kaito could figure out was that X was apparently out for him, though not to arrest him nor to hand him over to Snake.

At least that was the only conclusion after last heists, were X has left him to escape after she has saved him from the men in black. Who else could it have been? The intern police report said that Kid had escaped on his own so the officer who rescued him was not with the police, but since he had taken arms up against the men in black, he was not one of them either.

Judging from that, it would have made sense to assume that X was his ally, but that didn't fit with when she pushed him off the elevator or when she blocked his path on the stairs. In all likelihood, the tripwire was also her work, as well as the final deduction, exposing Kaito as the curator.

" _She certainly doesn't want to let me get the jewel, but for what reason? After all she didn't take it from me either, when she could."_ Kaito pondered over this, as a thought suddenly entered his mind. Maybe she was out for the jewel but simply failed to get it.

" _Of course, that's why she wanted to pull me up back then!"_ he suddenly realized _"Maybe X wanted to force me to hand her the jewel over, or else she would throw me down, but because of my gloves I slipped out of her grasp."_

That changed things completely, since now Kaito had a suspect for what happened to the missing 'Phantom's heart'! The gem had after all been stolen from him, when somebody tackled him in the smoke, just when he ran away from this crazed guy who had been trying to shot him.

Back then, he had thought it was a police officer, but what police officer uses a smoke screen to capture criminals? Now in retrospective, it seemed obvious that X was the one who set up the smoke screen and used the confusion and the fog to snatch the jewel away from him.

After all, nobody expect Kid would know it has been stolen and he surely would not tell the police, so X could be sure that nobody would come looking for her.

" _But why keep it so long? Did she need it for anything in particular or did she just want to taint my reputation?"_ he debated, coming to the conclusion that a person out to save him from arrest and death, would not be likely to seek his social demise. Especially since an official arrest would accomplish this so much faster.

With a loud yawn, Kaito leaned back, stretching his back. He was tired.

He wasn't cut out for detective work. It only frustrated him to ask more and more question and only get speculations as answer. If he prepared for a heist, he could at least be certain that some information was right, but what concrete evidence did he have right now.

Nothing, aside from X apparently not liking him, while liking him at the same time.

It was just confusing.

Deciding that he had done enough brainwork for today, Kaito rose to resolve one last issue for today. Namely that of the returned Emperor's Necklace.

O

As Aoko was finally on her way home, it was already 7pm. Not that she cared much for that. Her father would not be home anyways and nobody else was expecting her.

At least, that is what she thought, but then she found the front door of her house unlocked and the lights turned on. Quietly, she slipped out of her shoes and peeked around, careful not to give her presence away.

She had expected to find signs of rummaging or displaced objects, indicating a thief who searched for valuables, but nothing of the kind was there. Everything was just how it always had been. Gingerly creeping up the stairs, Aoko saw that the door to her own room was not closed as she had left it, but slightly ajar.

Silently she inched closer and then looked through the crack between door and frame into her room. As she saw who awaited her there, all caution immediately left her, and she slammed the door open.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her stare directed at her childhood friend.

Kaito had just been looking at her old notebook, which she had left on her table and noticeable jumped as she waltzed into the room "WOAH, easy there with the surprise appearance act! Almost gave me a heart attack!"

"How can I be the one surprising YOU, when you are the one who waited HERE? In my room!" Aoko only shot back, a stern frown on her face.

Kaito, obviously taken aback by her outbreak, tried to appease her with a calming gesture, "Calm down. No need to get that mad. After all, this isn't the first time I do this, right?"

Aoko held her stern gaze for a moment longer, before one of her eyebrows shot up in a quizzical look "Not the first time? Then when have you done so before?"

At that, Kaito stopped dead, before he showed her an embarrassed smile "Ahahaha, when was that again? I really can't remember…" But Aoko's frown, grew only sterner at that.

"Aren't you the one who always brags about his near perfect memory? Anyways, why are you here?" the girl questioned, narrowing her gaze at the magician. "Are you looking for clues?"

"Clues?!" Kaito countered "For what clues could I have been looking?"

But Aoko would have none of that. With a sigh, she started to elaborate "The clues telling you what I intend to do for next heists, so you can see whether I intend to go or not. Well, big surprise, I'm not going." She deliberately lied to him, hoping to throw him of track just to annoy him.

"Why should I care whether you go or not? Civilians are banned from leaving the reserved area anyway, so it's not like you could get yourself in trouble even if you went." the boy only replied, his manner having changed to an indifferent one.

"If that's not why you're here, then why?" Aoko asked again, but as Kaito was about to reply, she quickly cut him off "And please don't tell me it was 'because I just wanted to talk to you' We both know that's not true. Right, Kid?"

The magician opposite of her didn't reply for a moment, before his lips curled up and in the next moment, Kaito Kuroba had vanished with a puff of smoke, only leaving behind the famous magician in white.

"When have you figured it out?" he questioned, his voice now back in the usual calm and arrogant manner, he used on heists. Aoko hated that voice. It was such an obvious stage voice, that she felt like he was blatantly lying to her with every word he spoke.

"I noticed it the instant I saw you standing there. Kaito's surprise would never be that lame. He would probably put up a dummy and then jump me from behind." she angrily retorted, growing more annoyed with the whole situation by the minute. "But I'm sure you're not here to get your impersonations criticized, so I'll ask again: why are you here?"

For a moment, Kid let the silence stretch on, before he gently huffed "Straight to the point. Your day must have gone terrible" but before Aoko could interject anything, he went on, "I'm here to ask you, what happened to the Emperor's necklace."

That caught Aoko of guard. She had expected him to be happy that she finally returned it and leave matters at that, but apparently, she had judged him wrong. "What about it?" she replied quickly, not managing to hide her surprise completely.

"We both know what happened to it! The question is, why now? If you wanted to give it back, you wouldn't have needed to wait so long and could have given it straight to the police." Kid argued, his voice now more business-like and imposing, "Not to mention that you lack the abilities to sneak inside the Royal gardens. So, I'll ask again: what happened to the necklace?"

"What?! I'm very capable of being secretive! Have you forgotten the 'Phantom's Heart' heist?" the girl tried to argue against him but was quickly cut off by the thief.

"Don't try to sell me for stupid. You need more than the old police uniform and a helmet to get inside the royal palace!" he reasoned, though Aoko had a hard time finding any reason to his words.

Kid had now completely taken over the whole conversation and Aoko struggled to breath out even a single answer, mostly because she herself didn't really know what she should answer.

" _Did he really not notice that I have participated in every heist since then? No, he can't be that dense, but then why…"_ Aoko pondered, averting her gaze from Kid, a sign he apparently interpreted as her not being willing to answer.

"I'll tell you what happened to it. Somebody stole it from you!" he declared, staring Aoko down.

The girl in turn could only gap at that.

" _What?! Why the hell would he think somebody stole the necklace?! Why would they return it then?!"_ she mentally screamed, her lips struggling to form any words, due to the sheer stupidity of that statement. But Kid read her manners as something different.

"Yes, I know. You planned to give the necklace to your dad, claiming I have placed it in the mailbox or something like that, but when you awoke the next morning, it was gone, right?" he declared, pointing his finger accusingly at her just like a real detective would.

" _But just because detective is spelled on it, doesn't mean detective is in it."_ Aoko observed drily, as she finally gathered her calm and was ready to shoot back.

"Are you out of your mind?!" she retorted angrily "Who the hell would steal the necklace from me and how would they know I have it?!"

But Kid only took her anger as a desperate attempt to hide the truth, as Aoko gathered from his smirk "Oh please, you wouldn't know since you haven't been able to attend my recent heists, but there's a new competitor on the stage."

" _New competitor?!"_ Aoko questioned silently, racking her brain for who he could mean _"Oh no! Don't tell me he…"_

"They are a most sly one. And I'm sure they were also the ones who stole the necklace from you. After all, it wouldn't have been hard to locate us after the ruckus we created, when we fought Snake, and it would have been even easier to tail us back to your house." Kid continued to argue, having already reached a point where a simple 'no' wouldn't solve anything "Then they only would have needed to wait till you were asleep and then take the necklace!"

" _This imbecile! How on earth did he arrive at that conclusion?! And how can I make him understand how wrong he is?"_ Aoko fumed, but she concentrated on her breathing and calmed herself down quickly. Intense rage wouldn't help her to convince this donkey.

" _Wait, why should I try to debunk him…?"_ she suddenly realized, quickly retracing their argument _"All this time, I have tried to find a way to wash myself clean from this heists business, so people won't suspect me and now he's pretty much handing me the solution on a silver plate?!"_

This was her chance, so Aoko swallowed down her anger and poured everything she had in this next act.

Turning around, Aoko tensed her shoulders, making a show of what she hoped to be anger. She concentrated fully on her eyes, shutting them as hard as she could in an attempt to squeeze a tear out.

Her manner must have touched Kid in some way, since he hesitantly inquired "Nakamori-san?" She chose this as her cue, whirled around fiercely on her heel and stared him down, brows pulled down in an angry frown. She could feel tears welling in her eyes and saw Kid starring at her in apparent shock.

"YOU'RE RIGHT!" she screamed, driving her voice into a high and shrill tone, even adding a short hiccup to the end of her sentence. " **YOU** STOLE THAT BLOODY JEWEL, RIGHT? WHO ELSE COULD IT HAVE BEEN?!"

It seemed her outburst convinced Kid as he stammered an offended 'me', before Aoko continued her tirade "OF COURSE YOU! YOU SIMPLY FORGOT TO TAKE IT FROM ME EARLIER AND TO HIDE YOUR MISTAKE, YOU STAGGED THIS SO CALLED 'THEFT'! "

Aoko let everything out she had, assaulted Kid with waves of words. She called him a stalker, accused him of bullying her, demanded to know why he tried to make her life this miserable. Questions like' wasn't taking away my father enough?' or 'why do you hate me so much?' poured from her lips continuously.

Her throat began to hurt, yet she pushed on, slowly letting her voice drown out in sobs and muffled cries, before she sunk back on the bed, drew her knees close and hugged them with her arms, hiding her face behind the wall of limps.

Imitating what she hoped to sound like heavy sobs, she sat there, occasionally taking a short breath and whispering a 'why me? why can't you just leave me alone?' in between. The girl didn't know how convincing her act was and if Kid suddenly started to laugh at her poor acting skills, she would die of embarrassment.

But nothing happened. All she could hear in the silence of her room, where her own artificial sobs, nothing else. Raising her head, the slightest bit, Aoko could peek through her bangs and what she saw nearly stopped her breath.

Kid was just standing there, starring at her with terror in his eyes. Now Aoko thought he played an act, but the pain and hurt in his face looked far to real and sincere for that. Even he wasn't that good of an actor. Or was he?

Yet suddenly, Kid turned around and slowly stumbled towards the window. He pulled himself up on the windowsill, ready to take off but hesitated for a moment.

"I'm sorry." he said in a low voice and Aoko was tempted to reveal her deception to him, so lost and mortified did he sound "If you stay away from the heists, you'll never see me again." he added and with that the thief vanished into the night.

* * *

More than an hour had elapsed since Kid's departure and yet Aoko still laid sprawled out on her bed, just as she had shortly after Kid left. She needed time to think, then reorganize her ideas, theories and plans.

She was rather certain by now, that Kid had not seen through her act and genuinely though she hated him now. At least, that's what she gathered from his expression when he retreated quietly, since Kid would never play such an act of humility. Even though he had been more liberal with dropping his Kid mask when around her, the image of his persona would simply not allow him to perform such a pitiful act.

" _Dropping his mask"_ Aoko mussed as a sudden question struck her _"Why does he drop it anyway, when he is around me? I mean, I'm the daughter of Inspector Nakamori and have never made a secret of my distaste for him. So, why me?"_

Seating herself up right on the sheets, Aoko realized that despite the innumerable questions she had asked and theories she had created, she never looked at what connected Kid with her. She just assumed that he treated her this friendly and openly, because she managed to challenge him and that he cultivated his critics that way.

But if that were the case, then he would treat Hakuba the same way and that certainly was not the case. Now that she thought about it, even Conan, who had been after the thief far longer than she has and had been a lot closer to catching him as well, wasn't on such friendly terms with the infamous magician.

So there had to be another reason why Kid seemed to prefer her this much. Was it her dad and their decade old rivalry? No, Kid cared for her father to a certain degree and they both held a sort of respect for each other, but it was not by any stretch of the word a 'friendly relationship'.

" _Then is it because I'm a girl and that makes Kid go easy on me?"_ however, Aoko immediately discarded this idea. There was no way Kid would simply go easy on somebody, because they were a girl. He might play the gentleman, but that did not mean that he would make it any easier for women.

" _Then, maybe . . . he likes me?!"_ she lingered on this thought for a second, before banishing it immediately into the deepest depths of her mind. As if there was any way that the infamous Kaito Kid could be attracted to her, not when there was a horde of much better-looking fangirls who would readily latch onto him. Neither would her personality be anything that appealed to a gentleman, like Kid.

" _Though he's certainly not as much of a gentleman as he plays to be."_ Aoko observed drily, remembering the less than civil remarks he had made on previous encounters.

She continued to rack her brain for another half an hour over this topic but could not come up with any likely suppositions. In the end, she decided that it must be for some very personal reason and left it at that, knowing that only the thief could really tell her.

Though asking him why was pretty much impossible after the nervous breakdown she had deceived him with. So, instead of dwelling on the problem any longer, Aoko focuses her mind on other issues she could actually solve.

Namely what she would do about his next heists. If Kid saw her there, there was no way he would not figure out that she had played him for a fool today. So, Aoko had to find a way to prevent him from seeing her.

Well, it wasn't like this was a particularly difficult task, not when she could simply pull up her hair and put a cap on. With her physic, if she wore a thick jacket there was no way anybody could tell from a distance, whether she was a girl or just a slender boy. No, the real problem lay with the other plans, she had made.

But there was no use detailing that now when she did not even know when or where Kid's next heist would be, so Aoko postponed the issue for later. But there was something else, she could plan right now.

Kid was apparently convinced that a new party had started to visit his heists and for some reason, he had reached the conclusion that this third party was also the one who gave the necklace back to the emperor.

Though Aoko had not understood how he reached that conclusion earlier, now that she properly thought about it, it made a certain deal of sense. During the heist for the 'Phantom's Heart' where the massacre happened, Kid had never seen her pull her disguise off and thus had no idea that she had made a mask after all. Since the taskforce members had to wear their helmets on heists, it would not be that hard to sneak in without a mask. And even though Kid knew that she had a mask, the one he gave her on the heist earlier, it would be a sizeable leap in logic, to assume that she had managed to craft a mask by herself just from this.

" _Though, a real detective would at least keep the possibility in mind and go investigate, before he forms his theory."_ Aoko noted with no small satisfaction, proving to her that there was at least on field, in which she was superior to the magician.

Anyways, if one did not know of and didn't suspect her ability to disguise herself, then the strange new assailant, who was apparently not an ally of Kid nor the police, could only be an independent third party.

Thinking back to the last heist, Aoko just realized that her actions must have looked as though she wanted to kill Kid, on top of being very confusing in general. After all, who in their right mind would infiltrate the police, help them corner the thief, throw him to his certain death only to bail him out of a police car in the next moment?

But that was not important right now. If Aoko rolled with the theory of herself being a third party and taking into consideration that others underestimated her abilities, then it was only logical to assume that either, she had help to deliver the necklace or somebody had stolen it from her.

" _But why did Kid immediately jump to the conclusion that the necklace must have been stolen?"_ Aoko wondered. After all, while her dad and the police would not help her to deliver the necklace, there were other possibilities, right?

" _Or are there?"_ Aoko started to ponder. She would never ask a person who does not have her full trust to help her with this and there were not that many that were so close to her. Her dad was no option nor would any of his friends help her with this.

Conan and Ran, though very talented in their own rights, might help her with this, but they did not possess the abilities or connections to make this happen. At least, not as far as she knew, though the Suzuki girl might be able to.

But since Aoko did not even have a chance to meet her till now, she discarded that possibility for now. From her other friends, Hakuba would spring to mind as being influential enough. But his sense of righteousness would never allow him to help her with a break in, not to mention that he was not in the country at the moment.

Keiko and Akako were the next people on her list of friends, but Aoko quickly discarded them. There was no way an ordinary high school girl was able to infiltrate the royal palace. And though Akako always claimed to be a witch, there was no way she actually was one.

That left Aoko with one final candidate: Kaito.

He would not only have the required knack to break rules, but with his disguising abilities, it would also be possible to slip inside the royal palace, much like Aoko had done. Not to mention that he was her closest friend, so it was natural to assume that she would trust him with this.

"But Kid didn't even seem to consider the possibility, though it must seem logical." Aoko mussed aloud, failing to grasp a reason that would disqualify Kaito as a candidate. There was only one solution she could come up with and she didn't like that one in the least.

" _Kid somehow knows for sure that Kaito didn't help me."_

O

The room was filled with silence. The only noise being the consistent ticking of the clock on the small bedside table. Pale moonlight shone through the window, basking the room in an eery blueish hue, illuminating the teen's back, who knelt on the floor.

His eyes were fixed on the clock, but not following the slowly revolving hands. It seemed more like he looked through the object entirely, fixing a point far in the distance. But in truth, he did not look at anything in the room.

The only thing he saw in front of his eyes was a memory.

A memory of a girl, her body shaken by sobs, while her face was buried in her arms.

It broke his heart to remember her like this. Has broken his heart back then as well. But just like now, he simply could not look away, could not avert his eyes from the horrible scene.

"… _your fault…"_ a voice whispered in his head, over and over again.

What had he done?

All he had wanted was to protect her. To make sure that she remained unhurt.

But it turned out, everything he did hurt her even more.

" _your fault"_

It started when he took her dad away.

It continued when he allowed her to get close to him during the heists.

It was supposed to have ended when he tried to ban her from heists, but that had only hurt her more.

And now, when she finally had stopped attending. When she had managed to move on, he came back, reminding her once again.

" _your fault"_

Of course, Aoko would not know that a third party had appeared on the heists. Of course, she would assume that he was the one who stole the jewel from her, when it suddenly vanished. He was a thief after all.

"And all of this, because I insisted on suspecting her." he breathed quietly into the empty room. If he just had realized that there was no way she would go this far.

She had seen how terrible the heists were. And surely, she had blamed herself for causing the massacre. So, why should she continue to attend?

She was not stupid, so she knew that she could not make a difference.

" _your fault"_

"Why have I been so dense?" Kaito asked again, knowing that nobody would answer him.

He looked down on his clenched fists. Felt how the nails dug painfully into his flesh, yet he didn't relax his grip.

He had sworn to protect her. Had made a promise, not only to protect her but everyone on the heists. And all it needed for him to break that promise was one girl.

A girl who would bicker with him the whole day yet stay by his side.

A girl who would share her lunch with him, while telling him that he would grow fat.

A girl he loved more than anything in the world.

No.

It was not Aoko's fault.

She was not to blame for starting to go after him, not when he had mocked her dad this much and turned her life upside down.

He was at fault, for completely losing his posture, just because she started to attend his heists. Aoko was smart, yet Hakuba was smarter. Aoko was fast, yet the football of Conan was faster. Aoko was stubborn, yet Snake was even more stubborn.

The only reason why he couldn't deal with her like he dealt with the others, was because she was Aoko.

But he could not allow himself to use that excuse any longer.

A magician must keep the poker face in place, no matter the situation.

Be it evil criminals that shot at him or childhood friends who run after him, the show must go on!

With that the thief rose from his spot, face set in a determined frown.

It was time to step up his game and show Snake's crooks, the police, his detectives and the world what he was truly capable of.

And this would start with the next heists.

O

"Really Hakase?" Conan could not help but remark as he glanced up at what looked like a giant gatling gun hanging down from the hall's ceiling. If he had not known that Hakase had specifically designed this piece of equipment for this heist and that the inventor would never build anything to harm people, he would have thought the police to have gone nuts.

Not only did the automated turret look like something you would find attached to an Apache helicopter, but the many cameras with their red glowing lenses that protrude from everywhere of the canon, made it look like some alien had infested the weapon.

Of course, Hakase had already demonstrated that the weapon could only shoot what looked like balls of already chewed up gum that could not hurt anybody, but the sheer speed with which the projectiles were fired was frightening enough. On top of that the balls of slime would instantly stick to anything they came in contact with and only a special agent could dissolve them.

Casting a glance to his side where Hakase beamed with childish anticipation, Conan could not help but doubt the portly man's sanity for creating this device.

"I must admit it looks . . . effective?" Aoko, who stood on Conan's other side, observed with what he could only describe as a dumbfound expression from under her cap. At first, Conan had obviously questioned why she had pulled her hair up under the cap, making her look like a boy. But Aoko explained to him and Ran a bit flustered, that she had told her dad she would not be coming today, because they had an argument about attending heists.

'He insisted that I would stay at home, since midterm exams are coming up and he doesn't want me to get distracted by anything. And that even though I'm one of the best in my class!' she had complained to her friends, before the professor has led them inside. Just when they entered the huge hall, Aoko had asked Ran and Conan to not tell anybody that she had been here, a request both easily agreed too, knowing the struggle as well.

But all of that was quickly forgotten, when they laid eyes on the huge metal construction hanging from the ceiling. Even Ran, who must have been fairly accustomed to the strange inventions of Hakase, wore an expression indicating that she doubted her own eyes.

"What in the name of god…" she breathed, still unable to gather her wits. Hakase's smile in turn only broadened. The silly grin had been plastered on his face since he welcomed them first.

"Isn't it magnificent!?" he asked them, not in the slightest bit deterred by the startled cries and fearful gasp coming from all around them as the people poured through the halls open doors.

This time, the heist was held in an old library, which hosted a collection of rare materials and artefacts to study in its vast treasury. From time to time, the staff would put up a small selection of objects on display, rotating the pieces on exhibition every few weeks.

The security was normally rather poor, since none of the collected pieces possessed any significant financial value. And though they were all very valuable to a scholar, there were much better targets for a thief and so cases of robbery were rare and far in between.

That was until Kid had declared that he would steal one jewel that was currently on display.

After his heist note had arrived and the police was able to crack the code with the help of Hakuba, who had returned from Britain for the time being, preparations were immediately made. But while the forces promptly sprang into action, designing defence measures and identifying weak points, they could only scratch their heads as to why Kid chose this jewel.

In fact, the value of the plein ruby was so low that it had not even been given a name. Known as MR-23 the only thing the ruby had going for it was that it was unearthed more than 900 years ago and had gone through the hands of many emperors, kings and presidents.

But aside from that, the dull colour in combination with the medium size and the impurities in it, made the stone only usable as a study objects to show students the structure of natural gems. However, these factors mattered little before the background that Kid was out to steal the gem.

Though the library headmaster did not particularly care for the stone, the police saw it as their personal duty to prevent the thief from stealing anything and so, they rolled up their biggest and newest weapon.

The KKCR-Mark 1 designed by Hiroshi Agasa to capture any thief that dared to enter its line of fire. The impressive turret had a lightning quick targeting system, paired with six rotating barrels, able to fire a constant stream of sticky goo balls at its target.

Agasa had specifically programmed it to only shot at Kid for this heist and mounted the impressive machine on the ceiling to give it as clear of a line of fire as possible. Yet, the classic design of the exhibition room along with the many pillars to support the roof, made it so that a considerable amount of areas escaped the turrets aim.

However, to steal the targeted gem, now elevated on a lone pedestal in the middle of the room, Kid would have to cross at least 15 meters (50 feet) of terrain right in front of the deadly accurate gatling. On top of that, the room was also filled with task force members, though it were not enough to encumber each other or the KKCR-Mark 1. Even for a master of evasion like Kid, this would prove difficult.

Yet, as Conan glanced up to Aoko, her expression told him that she saw much the same as he did. The various weaknesses of this design. Though the police had once again installed powerful fans to get rid of the smoke, they would still need some time to disperse the fog, giving the thief ample time to grab the jewel, before the gun could target him.

Second issue was that the gun had no defence mechanisms in and on itself. If Kid managed to grab onto it, there was nothing the mighty weapon could do to shake him off, not to mention that a single surge of electricity would be enough to fry the mechanical brain.

Last but not least, the gun was only programmed to target Kid automatically, but if the thief didn't wear his white regalia, the turret didn't recognize him. To prevent that, an officer had still manual control of the turret, but he was undoubtably much worse at aiming than the machine itself.

"This is so not going to work." Aoko mumbled right then, affirming Conan's thoughts even more.

"Now, now, let us wait and see." Ran interjected gently, apparently not wanting to break the professor's good mood for having one of his inventions displayed to the broad public. After all, although the police payed him for his services, the real reason why he agreed to help was to show off his inventions. But Conan only hoped that it wouldn't go up in smoke, like so many of the elderly man's inventions already have.

Lowering his gaze, the boy saw that it was two minutes to nine and thus two minutes till Kid's arrival. Beside him Aoko squirmed once again. He had noticed that she has been doing so for quite a while but was not yet sure what was the cause.

" _She couldn't have forgotten to . . .? No surely not."_ he mused but decided to ask her anyways.

"Aoko-neechan? Are you alright." the girl jumped a little as he asked, before she looked down? For a moment, she seemed to contemplate something before answering.

"I need to go to the bathroom. I hoped I could keep it in till after the heist, but I don't think that's possible. Don't worry, I'll be back soon." And with that she took off.

" _Why should I worry when you go to the bathroom?"_ Conan observed drily, once again finding the high schooler's behaviour show remarkable similarities to Ayumi-chan. _"Though I hope she makes it back before this starts."_

Kid had already started his greetings with a power outage and a small speech, by the time Conan heard Aoko stop beside him. Conan just barely heard how Aoko breathed a soft 'made it in time' before the police illuminated their search lights and began scanning the room.

But there was nothing to be seen near the jewels pedestal.

For nearly a minute, the silence dragged on as everybody waited with growing tension what would happen next. That was when a sudden exclamation could be heard "Kid! He's on the gun!"

All eyes immediately turned towards the ceiling, where a white figure was clutching to the turrets housing.

"That's Kid! Get him." the leader of the team that was stationed inside the exhibition room roared and a dozen officers immediately aimed their tasers at the thief and shot.

But as soon as the order had been given, Conan had realized what was going on _"Wait, that's not Kid! That's a dummy!"_

Yet before he could utter a word to warn the officers, the tasers hit, discharging a current through their target. But instead of going limp and falling to the ground, the Kid hanging at the turret suddenly light up and in the next moment he went up in flames.

At the same time, the turret suddenly started to spasm and the camera lenses exploded in a shower of shards. Shocked, the onlookers, who were safely shielded by a big panel of armoured glass, looked at the scene as the smouldering and sparking remains of what hung on the turret fell to the ground, landing with a metallic clank.

"What happened?" "Was that Kid?" "Is he dead?"

A chorus of voices started to mutter, some accusing the police of being murderers, but they were suddenly cut off by the shout of Hakuba, "Kid is on the pedestal!"

All eyes turned towards the gem, focusing on the magician standing upright on the exhibition case, gem held between his fingers as though he was appraising it.

"I'm deeply sorry for the gruesome spectacle you had to witness, but as this is a new beginning so to speak, I had to make sure what the intentions of my opponent were. As you've seen just now, this "new task force" is not concerned with fair sportsmanship nor with my safety. Unfortunately, out of concern for my own health and since the respect I have held for the previous task force seems no longer deserved, I will have to resort to different methods." the thief spoke and Conan once more noted how clever he was.

It was obvious to him that the doll has been modified to explode in such a dramatic fashion if struck by electrical current, thus painting a very gruesome picture of the police. Of course, a taser was not a weapon you used lightly, and it still caused a significant amount of pain, yet it was nowhere near as vicious as it must look to the onlookers.

" _Getting the people to support him and oppose the police, huh?"_ Conan mussed, silently agreeing with Kid, since he too thought the police's liberal use of tasers to be completely out of place. After all, while not as dangerous as Kid made them out to be, receiving an electrical shock was still very painful and potentially deadly if it hit the wrong spot.

In contrast, his tranquilizer or Kid's sleeping gas were much less dangerous. Even the new goo the professor developed for his gatling would have been a better option.

But Conan's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the police officers rushed towards the thief. Yet Kid didn't even flinch as the men charged at him, his smirk only growing a little bit.

The first officer had reached him and threw himself on the magician, only to pass right through him with a loud shattering sound and landed painfully with his face on the floor. The Kid that had spoken to them just now was nothing more than a projection on a panel of glass.

"Headfirst as always. At least some things don't seem to change." the magician observed with a cackling laugh, his voice now coming from everywhere in the room.

"Swarm out and find him! He can't be far." the team captain commanded, but just as the officers were about to rush off, a voice stopped them calmly. "Before we run headless into a trap, let's make sure Kid has really stolen the jewel." Ashikabe interrupted calmly from where he stood next to Hakuba and the team captain.

"Ah, yes right away." an officer answered and lifted the glass case, yet there was nothing there, even as he looked below the cushion.

"Here's nothing!" he exclaimed and was about to set the cushion down when Hakuba spoke up, "Have you looked on the lower side of the cushion?"

" _Smart guy."_ Conan complemented, having noticed how the cushion seemed awfully strongly affected by gravity, just as though it was heavier than it seemed.

The office did as he was told and exclaimed in surprise, peeling the tape of that held the gem in place and showing it to everybody. He was just about to say something as suddenly, the room went up in smoke.

"What?" "It's Kid!" Don't let go of the jewel" the confused cries of the task force member echoed through the smoke, who already began to disperse as the air fans had been turned on immediately. The fog drained away, leaving behind a group of alarmed officers, looking around widely.

"Where's the jewel?" one asked.

"Did Kid get it?" Another answered

"No, I still have it!" the officer who was still clutching the cushion exclaimed.

"Good job. Now quickly bring it back here!" his team captain urged him, and the officer set immediately into motion. He arrived back there only shortly after, handing the ruby to the expert who had already waited to appraise it. All the officers seemed happy to have thwarted Kid's plan, but as soon as the expert took the ruby, his expression changed.

He only glanced at it once, not even taking his magnifying lens out, before he handed it back to the officer "That's a fake and a very obvious one at that."

O

Kaito had just slipped through the door into the huge lounge behind it, situated at the back of the library. From here, you had a splendid view through a huge glass front over the suburbs of Tokyo with the skyscraper in the back. But he was not here to enjoy the scenery.

Cursing to himself, he crouched down, listening for footsteps that were following him, but he heard nothing. Today's heist, although it has started well with his little trick with the dummy, had taken a turn for the worse real fast.

He had been able to scout the blueprints and location out fairly easy before the heists and even the shock he suffered when he thought he saw Aoko in the crowd right behind Conan, was quickly gone once he realized it was only Mouri-san. Apparently, they knew the inventor of that strange turret, since they were chatting with him and his assistant amiably.

Though that was a small relive, his masterful deception at the start however had been completely useless, since the stone the police had put in the case was not the one, he was searching for. He guessed that somebody else must have been carrying the original, so he quickly taped the fake to the bottom of the cushion before he snuck away and played the recording of him having gotten the jewel.

Normally, it would have been easy to discern that it was only a projection, but in the relative dark of the room along with the adrenalin and rush from the rain of sparks just before, he was rather certain nobody would notice. Though he was surprised that the police still had not managed to turn the lights back on, he was not one to complain.

The reason why he taped the fake gem back under the pillow was to make it seem as though he had carried it away, giving the police a feeling as though they had managed to fool him. However, if they found the fake jewel in that position, it might seem to them as if he purposefully made a show of stealing the fake, to hide that he had already stolen the real jewel. If they were to really swallow that bait, then they would very likely lead him right to the hiding place of the real gem, making his work that much easier.

Either way, they would likely wait back in the main hall, ready to defend their jewel, so he had free reign in the rest of the building, which he needed to reconquer the ruby. Raising himself to proceed to his next objective, Kid suddenly halted and listened.

" _Footsteps?!"_ he realized quickly, immediately alarmed. The police had no apparent reason to chase after him, since they still held the original, but the men in black would not stomp around this loudly. Even with one of them directing the task force, the officers could still be alarmed by the loud trampling and decide to investigate, which could blow their whole cover.

"Have you found Kid?"

"No but he must be close by!"

He could now even hear voices coming closer, which definitely belonged to the task force. Snakes men would never talk to each other like this. But what was the meaning of this? It made no sense why they would come after him when they still have the jewel.

" _That was at least the case for the previous task force."_ Kaito realized, recalling how Ashikabe had announced that their new main objective would be to catch Kid, not only to defend the jewel.

By now, the voices had grown louder and louder, but Kaito had no reason to panic. During his time scouting out the museum, he had memorized every sneaky path, every shadowy corner and hidden path and so, when the officers burst through the door, he was long gone.

O

Conan looked around one more time, unable to shake the feeling of discomfort. Something did not seem right.

Even with the new task force forcing Kid to be more careful, it was strange that the thief did not come to flaunt his ego a little more. It should be easy for him to lurk around in the shadows preaching his own magnificence and other praise to irk the task force, till they made a mistake that would allow him to flee through the front door.

For Kid's show, it was vital to demonstrate his own superiority over the police, so just slipping away in the dark was not an option for the thief. Furthermore, the fact that the appraiser had described the fake as 'a very obvious one' irked Conan even more.

Till now, the fakes Kid had used, had always been next to flawless and even if he might hadn't had the time to live up to his usual standards, he would never plant a forgery that would be so obviously false.

" _Something's amiss here."_ he muttered, his hand on his chin, while turning the facts over in his head. But only a moment later, somebody tugged him softly by the arm and as he turned his gaze, he came face to face with Aoko.

"Something's strange here, don't you think?" she asked him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion and wandering through the room.

"You mean the bad fake and that Kid is so strangely silent?" Conan questioned, receiving a quick nod as answer, "Yeah, something's definitely up, but I can't say what it is… You've got an idea?"

Aoko furrowed her brows at that, before she replied "It does not seem like the police is playing a trick on Kid, but I don't know for sure whether the new Superintendent hasn't pulled any strings. He seems like the guy who would play games like this. However, it is more likely that Kid is the one trying to pull the wool over our eyes, though I can't see what he is trying to achieve with this."

Conan had to agree with his pupil. The whole setup suited a thief more than a policeman and the task force wouldn't really need to pull such stunts. There were much more efficient ways to protect the jewel.

But before Conan and Aoko were able to come up with a solution, a soft humming reached Conan's ears and the next moment, Aoko pulled her phone out of her pocket. Furrowing her brow over the caller's ID, she took the call without a delay.

"Kaito? Why are you calling me?" she asked, her face portraying a mixture of worry and confusion. Conan could hear somebody mutter something on the other end, though he was unable to make out exactly what it was.

"You WHAT?" the girl suddenly exclaimed, disbelief and concern clearly portrait in her voice "Are you hurt?"

Again, the other side said something, but since Conan had shrunken back from Aoko's vocal outburst, it was hard for him to hear the voice at all.

"You really. . .!" Aoko began, leaving the sentence unfinished before a sudden determination, came over here face "Where are you now?"

The caller answered something, but Aoko cut him short "Don't give me that nonsense. I'm coming back RIGHT NOW. Just don't you dare move a finger, Bakaito!" and with that, she ended the call.

Turning to Conan, she briskly explained "Kaito, my magician friend, has gotten himself tangled up in an escape trick and he needs me to help him out. It's not that far till home, but I don't know if I'll make it back here in time. Just send me a text, if you and Ran-chan decide to leave, ok?"

Not even waiting for a response, the girl quickly got up and rushed towards the exit, only looking back once and sending Conan what looked like an apologetic expression. Perplex for a moment, it only took a moment before a small smile snuck on the grade schooler face.

"Tangled up in an escape trick and Hakuba seriously thought that guy was Kid?" he muttered amused, shaking his head a little, before he turned and explained the whole situation to Ran, who was starring after the departing girl.

"She really doesn't have it easy." Ran sympathized with the girl and Conan would have agreed with her, but in the next moment a shout erupted from the crowd.

"It's KID!"

Immediately fingers were pointed, and searchlights aimed, focusing on the figure of the famous thief, standing on a wooden beam high up under the ceiling. It was obvious that the distance was too long for the tasers to reach and so the police could do nothing else but goggle up as stupidly as the onlookers.

"KID! Get your sorry ass down here!" the well know cry of Inspector Nakamori echoed through the room. The inspector who had been absent for the first half of the heist, had returned when Kid was gone and was now right besides Superintendent Ashikabe and Hakuba.

"Ah, dear Inspector. It is good to see familiar faces in this crowd of strangers. Tell me, are you satisfied with your new position? You seem a lot healthier than before, so it seems as though the change has done you good." Kid immediately answered, his voice emitted by all the speakers in the room and thus easy to understand.

"Cut your nonsense and give back the stone! Why wait till tomorrow or the day after, if you can hand it back right now!" another Inspector, this one being the team captain for the men in the main hall, stepped forward, his arm outstretched in a demanding gesture.

"That is curious." Kid only cackled back, finding obvious amusement at something nobody else understood "I have already suspected that the communication amongst the new task force will be a bit lacking, but this is worse than I've ever imagined."

"What do you mean?" the team captain demanded "Is this another one of your tricks? We know the stone is a fake!"

But Kid only meet the serious expression of the man with another cackle "It's to be expected that you know of the fake. After all, you were the ones who placed it there to beginning with."

A murmur of questions broke out at that and even the officers sent questioning glances to each other, but Kid spoke on, silencing the noise again.

"It is a most secure although very unsportsmanlike method to hide the gem and not even give me a clue. Though, I guess that's to be expected, judging by the firework you set off at the beginning." the remark about the taser usage didn't miss its target and soon angry shouts could be heard from the crowd.

"You cheaters!"

"Play fair!"

"This police force is a disgrace!"

"Show us, where you hid the real jewel!"

The crowd demanded, voices and temper rising, while the masses pushed forward, so that Conan had to search cover between Hakase and Ran as to not get trampled down.

"Calm down! Calm down everybody!" the officers tried to calm the masses, but there was no stopping them. The first people began to throw plastic bottles and wrappers, all the while shouting insults and murder!

"And you call yourselves cops!"

"We want the old task force back!"

"Nakamori back in charge!"

"Nakamori! Nakamori! NAKAMORI!"

" **SILENCEN!"**

…

And instantly, the whole room was quiet again.

Inspector Nakamori had stepped on top of one of the air fans in order to be clearly visible and with his shout everybody shut up immediately.

"I have checked the jewel at the beginning of the heist myself and I can guarantee that it was the real one and not the same as the one that was under the cushion after Kid left. It was completely different! Not even the size did match!" he explained, instantly evaporating any doubts the masses held.

"But if you aren't the ones who swapped the jewel, then who was it?" somebody asked from the crowd, voicing everybody's thoughts.

And so, all eyes turned to Kid.

The thief however remained silent.

Only looking down at them, a cocky yet unfamiliar crazed smile on his face.

His stare gave Conan the chills.

Casually, yet with an elegance that hadn't been there before Kid flicked his wrist and in the next moment, he held the gem between his fingers.

"So, YOU were the one who stole it!" a familiar voice exclaimed from the crowd, followed by a small puff of smoke.

"Really cleverly done! I must admit" the same voice declared with a certain anger, and, in that moment, everybody realized who it belonged too.

"KID?!" the whole hall asked in union as they saw the white regalia of the thief emerge from the cloud of smoke, the person wearing it marching through the air right towards the other Kid, till only a few steps separated them.

With stupefied expressions all eyes wavered between the two Kids, one with an angry scowl and one with a Cheshire grin.

* * *

All rights of Detective Conan go to Gosho Aoyama. Nothing of what you just read is or should be taken as canon and simply serves as a form of entertainment.

Any form of review is highly requested and if you liked this chapter and want to see more, leave a follow or visit my other stories. I do not intend to drop this project, so nothing to fear on that part.

Hope you liked the chapter and till next time.

Farewell


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